Flight
by Junshi Horeru
Summary: Tylor is a girl with a few problems she's grown up with out her father had to help her mother raise 4 kids and now has to put up with her stepfather while trying to help her drug addicted friend All this changes after she gets hit by a truck plz comment
1. Chapter 1

**Flight**

_By: Junshi Horeru_

Chapter 1: Accident

**~ -- -- ~**

I stared up at the mid-19th-century building threw its gigantic, cold gate. The gate's almost as cold as the world surrounding that academy. But the world has it beat. And that academy is one of the warmest thing I've seen.

Sure I live in Orange County, California. 44 minutes south of Hollywood. 14 minutes from the Pacific Ocean. Hell, Disneyland is practically up the street. But Flight Academy seemed better than any of part of this place. And for a school in California, it was pretty humble. Sure, it looked old (for California standards)(which, I must admit, are quite shallow compared to anywhere else). I pulled myself away from the gate and continued to walk to my job. Of course its not a job I chose to do, my mom, Abagael Used-To-Be-Trafford Panni, and her husband, Roger His-Stepdaughter-Tylor-Hates-His-Guts Panni, own a restaurant, though my mom and me and my siblings and stepsiblings do all the work. Roger just goes to the church and 'heals' people and 'purifies' and whatever other crap the Christian religion believes will 'help your soul return to your father in heaven and not go to hell'.

Me? I'm so not Christian. Hell, I'm not Jewish. I'm Wiccan. And I love it. My name's Tylor Val Trafford. Not Tylor Val (Trafford) Panni. I would never stoop down to actually becoming one of Roger's 'children'. Besides, I love my surname, though my dad, Travis Trafford, screwed it up. Travis disappeared when I was just 4, 11 months after my younger sister, Emma (better known as Evna) was born. Its been 13 years since I last saw him on that cloudy day. I barely remember him, anyway. All I remember was he had ice-blue I-will-see-threw-your-soul eyes and ruff never-combed blonde hair—which I didn't get, unlike the rest of my siblings, who have the tiniest bit of my mom's hair color, who has black hair—and always had a rough look to him.

I looked down at my knee-high, black high tops as I remembered the past. I was different looking than my other siblings, though I had more of my mother's looks than my other siblings. Except my brother, Author (super-dork, I call him)(though I'm sorta a dork myself)(not as much, though), who SHOULD be gay, but isn't. Or he's just in deep deep denial. I think its the second one. Anyway, I had a pretty-funky green tint for my eye color and to-top-of-mid-back-long black-with-a-tint-of-red hair. I had a nice little nose that I have NO clue where I got it. My mom has a sorta long nose, and Travis, if I remember correctly, had a strong nose. But, anyway, I'm not complaining. I love how I look, unlike most girls who look at super models that are so airbrushed. But, then again, I guess you can't help but see super models here in Cali.

I heard someone walking up behind me. Sure, being in a big city with a bunch of people always around you, you'd have someone walking up behind you 95% of the time, trying to pass you, but these footsteps I knew. One of the few people at the restaurant (which I should mention, its name is Panni-Ala)(Roger came from an Italian background, and Ala meant 'wing'...its retarded, I know), Patrick Alison. He was my so-close-to-ex-best-friend-and-ex-friend-its-not-funny.

Patrick is a good guy and all, but....recently, he's taken up drinking. Like every other high school student besides me and those who have standards, beer, but he also drinks hard liquor. I have absolutely NO clue how he gets it, much less how he's able to sneak it the Fountain Valley Jail—I mean, High School. Its where he and I met. Also, the kid—yes, I call him a kid...I mean, my 13 year old sister has more sense than him—has taken up smoking. Not just cigarettes. No, don't have Ty-Ty worry about your health with just the drug EVERYONE uses and that she keeps ripping out of your already nasty-smelling mouth, but start smoking WEED, too. God, this kid needs help. And a life. To stay off them drugs and them alcoholic beverages.

"Hey, Ty-Ty," he greeted me in his already-abnormal-since-I'm-used-to-him-being-drunk sober voice, a weed-stick in his mouth. I stared at him and shook my head.

"I'm sorry, I don't talk to potheads," I said and started to walk faster. My part-trench-coat-part-hoodie blew in the wind. For California, its pretty cold. Dipping down to the high 60's, so that's why I have the trench-hoodie.

Patrick rolled his dark blue eyes and threw his pot-stick to the side and stepped on it. He caught up to me again and pushed his long golden-blonde locks out of his face. "Don't be that way, Ty. If you had the pressures I did, you wouldn't think the same."

"You mean like the History Day project we're supposed to be working on together that you gave me all the work to do because you claim that its too hectic at your house for?"

He stopped in his tracks and I walked even faster. I didn't want to talk to him. I was always pissed on my way to Panni-Ala. He caught up again and brushed some of my red-black hair out of my face and pushed it behind my ear. I glanced at him to the side. "It is...I mean, my dog would tear the thing up."

"A script you type on the computer and put on a flash drive to bring to school so we could print it out there? I never knew. Tell me, does your dog usually eat electronics?"

He chuckled. "No....but its stressful. You know, with my sister going off to college. Me going off to college soon."

"Good for you. I've got a step-sister and a sister going off to college plus myself, plus I've got to watch after a kid that's only a few months younger than me who thinks he knows everything, a fifteen-year-old who looks up to the sixteen-year-old, a hyperactive thirteen-year-old who's confused about emotions all the time, and a twelve-year-old with irregular periods while doing homework, working on the project, juggling a social life, having two jobs, trying to come to a compromise with someone who hates your guts since you don't do what he says and he wants you to see him as a father figure, and your trying to FIND your biological-father. You tell me stressful when something worse than that happens." I was going to add a little thing that's been happening recently, but I didn't want to tell the drunk-pothead. Recently, I've been having weird stuff happen to me. Like, I could feel this muffin that some person at school was picking up in the lunchline, and I could taste it when they bit into it (swear I've never ever touched the muffin, or the type of muffin before, but I knew what it tasted like), when Patrick skinned his knee when he failed miserably at skateboarding, and I could feel exactly the same pain in the same exact place on the same exact knee, even though I was skating and not falling (he was drunk, and I didn't know it...at the moment), and now and then, I've either seen inside people's minds, or I could hear what they were thinking. It helped me on the big exam at the end of last year. Yeah, I cheated.

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Whatever....so, what are you doing later?"

"I don't know....Bobby is going to watch the other kids tonight while I take Evna to see a movie at her friend, Katrina's, house....after that, I have no clue. Homework?"

"Its winter break, Ty. We don't have homework."

"So what? Why are you asking?"

"I was wondering....would you like to go see a movie or go out to eat somewhere or something with me later? I don't think your dad would mind."

"I wouldn't know if my dad would mind, he didn't stick around long enough for me to see if he'd be fine with me dating....Roger could careless about my social life. I mean, its just a friend-date, right? Trying to make up for yesterday's fight? Again?"

"Not...necessarily. Kinda-sorta."

"Kinda sorta?"

"I....want to date-date you, Ty. You know, boyfriend-girlfriend? I've liked you ever since you first came to Holy Cross in first grade." He smiled a cute guy smile and blushed light-light pink.

I stared at him, and it took me a second to realize I stopped walking. Ok, I saw that Patrick's and my relationship is total crap and would not work any single bit, and he sees that our relationship should be taken to the next level? How blind is this kid? I mean, he has glasses and that, but I thought glasses were to HELP sight. A little voice inside me told me not to do what I really, really, really wanted to do, which was yell and scream 'no' as loud as possible and flail and act like I was having a seizure and that I had poison splashed on me and my brain was scared for life, but a louder voice pushed that out of the way and said just run.

I stared at him and shook at my head slowly then bolted in the opposite direction. "TYLOR!" he called after me. I kept running, trying to ignore the voice, the innocent voice, that said 'maybe I could turn him around and make him go to Alcohol's Anonymous or something and get him off of pot'. "WATCH OUT!" I heard him yell from a little ways down. I looked back at him, then looked forward as a tow truck started to turn onto the road I was heading for and I ran SMACK into the front of it at full speed, sending me into an unconscious sleep.

-- ~ ~ --

"Is she going to be alright, Doctor....Doctor...Dr. Porter, wasn't it?" my mom's voice asked, concerned filling her voice.

Dr. Porter? Who? I've been to the hospital before and I've been with EVERY doctor, literally, and knew them all by name. Was Dr. Porter new?

A strong, but beautiful and calm voice said, "Mrs. Panni, your daughter has suffered minor injuries. She should be coming around shortly," he chuckled a bit, "I bet she could hear us right now."

....No doctor was like that. Well, in California. Most were like 'maybe she'll come around, but I think she'll be a carrot for some time' or something blunt. Very few were joking and kind like this guy. Must be from out of town or something.

Then, oh god no, Roger's voice came to me, "Dear, Tylor will be fine. I made sure God won't take her up yet from you." God, if I were awake and knew where he was, I would punch him square in the jaw.

I heard someone move. "Miss....Trafford, is it? Are you awake?" the kind, calm, beautifully strong voice asked. My eyes flapped open.

My eyes landed on a beautiful, for lack of better words, man with bright red hair and beautiful green eyes. They were the EXACT same green as my eyes, but they look better on him. On me, it just looked freaky. I mean, seriously, they glow on me. He had slightly-pale skin and a beautiful smile. He looked to be about 20 to, maybe, very very small maybe, 25. I looked around more. Roger with his short brown hair and brown eyes caught my eye next. He had on his 'priest clothes'. Then I looked to my mom, Abby. Her medium-length curly black hair hug around her face and her beautiful brown eyes were red and puffy like she was crying. Her long, straight nose was red, too. She had dry tear streaks on her tan cheeks. It wasn't her real skin color, she went to the beach a lot.

Then I noticed Patrick. He looked worried. His semi-drunk-and-high expression had a strange mix of worried. It seemed weird seeing those two together. Then I saw...him. A boy, about my age, hell, I'll call him a man. He could pass for 18 or 19. He had black, sorta-long (too about the base of his neck), messy hair with a single green streak in it and he had beautiful green eyes. He was beautiful, like the red-haired man, but younger looking. And, oh my word was he tall. He was almost as tall as the door, and he's just leaning on the wall by the door. Both him and the red-haired man were sexy, but....dating a 20-year-old-looking-doctor (he's probably Dr. Porter) versus someone that looks about around my sixteen years? So, yeah.

"Where am I?" was the first thing that leaked out of my mouth. Ok, it was more like blurted, but....my brain's more focused on the black-and-green haired, 7 feet tall, sexy god leaning on the wall.

The red-haired man that was probably Dr. Porter replied in that strong, beautiful, calm, but kind voice, "Your at the hospital, my dear. I'm Dr. Ryan J. Porter. You can call me Ryan, if you want. I told your parents that, but they prefer to call me Dr. Porter."

I tore my eyes (somehow) from the sexy tall man and looked at him. "My dad has reappeared?"

Dr. Ryan chuckled. "I meant the two over there." He jerked his head to Roger and my mom.

I glanced at Roger and my mom for a second before looking back at Dr. Ryan. "Roger is not my father. My father is Travis Trafford."

He nodded. He put his hand so it was out stretched to the black-haired sexy man on the wall. "My apprentice here, Jude Corbin, has a father named Travis." I looked over to Jude (oh, Jude has always been my favorite name for a guy)(I wanted to name my first son (if I ever had one) Jude) and noticed he was looking at me. "Jude...what are you staring at?" Dr. Ryan's voice made me jump. I then noticed Jude blush all so slightly, but on his naturally-tan (I can tell) skin, it made the biggest difference.

He looked away and said in a really sexy voice, "Nothing, sir. Is there anything you want me to do, sir? Or am I excused to go back to the school?"

Dr. Ryan shrugged. "Whatever. I might need you later. Stay in the office area. I'm sure the nurses could use something to stare at other than a computer screen," he chuckled. Jude rolled his green eyes.

"What school are you talking about? Flight Academy?" I blurted. Damnit. I must sound like an idiot.

Jude looked at me and nodded as a sexy smile slowly appeared on his face. "Yeah...Professor Porter and I are from there....Professor just came to the hospital since they were short tonight. Where the hell could doctors go on vacation in a place that's basically a vacation spot? But, yeah..."

I nodded slowly. "That's cool." Jude and I locked eyes again. There was something in Jude's lovely eyes that made me stare. Was there something like mind control or something? Sorry, too many vampire-love stories, both book-books and from Quizilla. I smiled slowly in a shy way when Jude kept staring. Suddenly, my little sister came into the room, almost hitting Jude with the door. He caught the door easily with one hand.

Evna's short, messy dyed-black-but-looks-like-gray-thanks-to-her-blonde-hair bobbed around her face as she raced to my bed side. "Ty-Ty-Ty, you not going to die, aren't you? Author said you're going to die!" she squeaked. I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I won't die. Running face first into a truck won't kill you. Why would Super-Dork tell you that?"

"Cause he wants me to believe that you're going to die cause he's a jerk!"

"Oh, god, do I have to look over you two even when I'm in the worst situation, too?"

Author walked in, his short, golden blonde hair messed up as usual and his brown eyes were barely noticeable behind the glare of his dorky glasses. I have no clue why that brat likes those types of glasses. Does he think that since Peter Parker (yes, I know about _Spiderman_)(I actually liked _Spiderman_ when I was younger) had glasses like his and Peter turned into this awesome superhero that he'll become something cool like that? Pft. In his dreams. "Its funny to scare her," he said in, his voice cracking a bit. I rolled my eyes. "You know it was fun for you to scare me when we were younger."

"I didn't TRY to scare you.....I beat you up. And I'll bring back those memories only to slap them out of your head again if you don't watch it, Super-Dork. Evna, don't listen to Spider-dork, he doesn't know what he's talking about." Evna looked over to Ryan, then to Jude. Oh, no. Oh lord no. She has THAT look in her eyes. THAT look that every 13 year old girl gets in her eye when she sees a hot guy. On TV, in the store, at the park, WHEREVER. She turned to me and crawled up onto my bed and I moved my legs into a crisscross position.

She whispered, "Ty-Ty, those are some SEXY doctors." I smiled and shook my head. I heard Jude chuckled a bit. Evna looked at him.

My mom came up and picked up my hand and put her hand over it gently. "Honey, Roger and I have to get back to the restaurant, but Dr. Porter will take good care of you. Evna, Author, come on....we've got to let your sister rest." I felt myself feel like I died inside as Evna got off my bed and walked away waving. I hope that's not an omen for the future. Once my family (and Patrick) left, Ryan looked at me. "Your younger sister is very funny, Miss. Trafford," he chuckled when he noticed the pain in my eyes.

"Yeah....she's the only one in my family now that I can actually really express myself to without criticism or someone trying to 'save me from the pits of hell' now," I said, playing with the sleeves on the hospital gown thing. Ugh. I hate these things. I noticed I still had my bracelets on my wrists in their perfect places. "So...uh...where am I hurt? Physically, I mean....from the truck," I asked him stuttering a bit.

"You had a bruise on your head and a long scar on your arm from when your arm hit the car and your skin got punctured by something the grill...that's all," he replied. I took that in nodding, then I realized he used past tense.

"What do you mean 'had'?"

"Miss. Trafford....I'm proud, but somewhat scared of your reaction, to tell you...you are not human. You are a type of creature called an 'ancient'. They are very powerful, and you are the true reason why Jude and I came from Flight Academy." I stared at him like he just told me he was Nyx, a Wiccan goddess. Yeah, that would be freakier, since he was a guy, and Nyx is a girl, but this is pretty freaky. Jude stepped closer.

"Professor Ryan had a strong feeling that you would be starting your....'awakening', if you will, soon, if not already. He wanted to make sure it went along well, like everyone at Flight Academy is," he said in a very serious tone.

"Tell me, child, have you noticed anything weird happening to you lately? Like, healing faster than normal, mind-reading, strange feelings, anything?"

I nodded, trying to get my voice back. At first I sounded like I had a dry throat but then it went to my normal voice, "Yes....uh....yes, I've experienced stuff like....I tripped last week, and feel and scrapped my knee pretty badly, and Patrick was there to help me and he helped me to the nurse's office and when we got there....the wound was gone. The blood was still there, but....my knee looked normal, other than that. And then, on Monday I think, my friend Katie accidentally cut herself with a butter knife, I know, weak much, but, anyway, I've felt the exact same pain she did, and.....this will sound strange, but.....I can hear everyone's thoughts. And I mean, everyone's thoughts.....and every thing's thoughts, too....at random moments."

Jude's eyes widened and his head jerked to Ryan. He started to speak some language that sounded Latin, but with more ancientness to it. Ancientness. How ironic to use. Ryan looked to me. "Very ironic," he said. I stared at him.

"How'd you....?"

"Most ancients can. And that language was the root language for Latin. Its the Ancient-language."

I blinked once. Twice. Then it processed. "Cool....weird, slightly hard to understand, but cool."

"I know....every awakening-ancient has a hard time at first."

"But...how do you know **I'm **an ancient? I mean, I thought it was something Goddess gave to me for the element of spirit." I then felt my face go red. I never really liked talking about religion to super-smart people, since they all seemed to be either Scientology-people or ashiest or Catholic, like Roger. He's not super-smart, actually, I think he's rather idiotic, but that's beside the point.

"Nyx—she's the one you believe in correct?--has probably blessed you with the spirit element. I can sense how connected you are with everyone. But I know you are since you are very powerful and some other attributes about you."

I stared at him. "You're Wiccan, too?" I squeaked in surprise. He smiled and nodded.

"Yep. My mother was a high priestess."

"Jealous."

"Pretty much everyone at Flight Academy is Wiccan," Jude informed me. I blinked and gapped.

"Cool," I gasped. "Jealous more. Barely anyone at Fountain Valley is Wiccan. Hell, barely anyone's anything but Christian." Jude nodded.

"I know....I hated that place when people got on huge discussions of religion and stuff....and my old friends from there where BIG on religion," he sighed rolling his eyes. I blinked.

"You went to Fountain Valley?"

"Yeah...Now I remember seeing you! You had Jefferson for English in Freshman year and that Japanese lady for art, right?"

"Holy crap, yeah! I remember you! You were on the football team! And basketball....and every coach wanted you....and every slut.....and every girl....and pretty much all the gay guys.....and all the guys were jealous of you....cause you were so cool and talented....and I was just a dork with no friends, really, trying to fit in. And you were a Sophomore, right?"

"Yeah, that's me.....and I didn't know all the _gay_ guys wanted me, too....ugh....the sluts I knew about, I mean, they almost literally threw themselves at me."

"They DID literally throw themselves at you! My sister did!" Then I realized what I said and blushed again and looked away. "Sorry about that....she's stupid...."

"Oh, Alexia, right? I remember her....its not your fault."

"Actually, I think my soul knocked her out of my mom's arms when she was a baby and she fell on her head. So it sorta is...." Jude chuckled loudly.

"Hey, how are the guys from the football team from back then? Are they doing good?"

"The few that are left are....four of them died a month ago in a pretty bad accident where their car flipped somehow, and recently, six of them died very tragically when their truck went over a cliff going to the beach and they drowned in the ocean." Jude nodded pain in his eyes. "I pay too much attention to the news."

"Who died?"

"From the first accident, Tommy Roberts, Eddie Penapple, Jose Gomez, and Yuki Tsuchi...from the second one, I think it was Fred Yanzzy, Oliver Johnson, Reggie Michaels, Ted Harrison, Al Smith, and Greg Evenington."

"Oh....all those guys were my friends. Do you know if it was another car that knocked their cars over or if they were drinking or something?"

"I think I heard alcohol and some drugs were involved." Sadly, I knew all too well that drugs and alcohol were involved. I was there when all 10 of them died. I was the reason they died.

"Must be a great loss to the school."

"Depends on which clique you're talking about in the school and what teachers. But, yeah, the sluts, hoes, jocks, and, surprisingly, the preps are all still grieving. But my group never really wavered. Except for Evna since she's overly emotional about things and she's very fragile. And I think she had a crush on Oliver..."

Jude nodded. "I wish I could go back there, but knowing me, I'd freak everyone out and...yeah....I don't want to be the reason for people to die."

"Tell me about it," I groaned. Why'd he have to put it like that?

Ryan seemed to snap out of a weird trance, like he was too into something he was reading. Like he was reading a really good book or something at the most exciting part and it just ended in a really sad way or a real depressing way or disappointing way. Like the hero dies or you find out the hero has a bad passed and is actually the bad guy. "Miss. Trafford," he said. "You have an interesting mind."

.....OH DAMN HELL NO! He was reading my thoughts! I just know it! Oh, damnit, damnit damnit damnit damnit!

"I was just listening to your memories Jude and you were going threw, and all of a sudden....you're thoughts shut off, like a wall was put up or something to block me out, when you started to talk about those 10 kids. That usually happens when awakening ancients experience guilt or intense sadness."

Snap. Snap. Snap. SNAP! I can't lie to him and say 'it was intense sadness', cause it defanatly is guilt! I mean, I'm a 16 year old who committed murder! Accidentally, I must add. Not my fault they were drunk and they were going to gang rape me and I just HAPPENED to have some freaky crap happen just then and I blew their truck or car over with just my bare hands!

"Did it? That's interesting," I mumbled. Its not lying.

"Yes. Its very interesting. Fully awakened ancients can usually control that, though. I'm not going ask which it is. But...I'm curious. I'll ask your parents--"

"My mom and her, excuse my language, jack-ass-of-a-husband. Roger's not my dad," I corrected.

"Right, my apologies. Your mother and her husband, come to get you later, I'll propose this to them, too." He took a deep breath, like a guy would if he was proposing to a woman for her to marry him and he was very scared. But Ryan had a calm feeling about him. "Would you like to attend Flight Academy instead of Fountain Valley High School?" I almost leaped at him from all my joy as I hugged him by the neck.

"Yes!" I practically squealed like a hyperactive prep. Ew. "I'd LOVE to!" Ryan smiled when I pulled away. He chuckled at me as I pretty much danced around the room, not knowing any other way of venting my happiness. I was thinking kissing Jude, but....I don't want him to think I'm a slut that likes to rush things. Ok, I don't want him to think I'm a slut. Period!

"I'm glad you accept so....enthusiastically. I just hope your mother and her husband can be just as willing to let you go. It sounds you have a very busy life."

"I can convince my mom, and I have a way to influence Roger. I can tell him he'd be rid of me for good, and he'll accept. I know he will...unless he wants to 'save my soul'." I shrugged. Ryan smiled and nodded.

"I've got to go turn in your report, alright, Miss. Trafford? I'll be back shortly." He got up and walked out of the room. I hopped back on the bed and Jude sat on the bed. I guess he wasn't the type of person to steal someone's seat.

"Those bracelets look cool," he said smiling at my wrists, "Where'd you find all those?"

"Either my friends gave them to me, someone dropped them and I picked them up, or I went to Hot Topic and bought them." I shrugged.

"Could I see one?" He reached out slightly and almost touched them but I flinched back. He looked up at me. "Sorry....I didn't mean to surprise you."

"No, its just that....I don't like taking them off...they're like apart of me now..." And they conceal my biggest, darkest secret. Ok, second biggest darkest secret. All along my wrists, where my bracelets are, there's slits ranging from small, little barely noticeable slivers to big huge gapping cuts.

Jude nodded. "I understand....I have bracelets I can't take off myself." He lifted up his wrists and I noticed all the bracelets—mostly green and purple ones—going pretty far up almost to his elbow.

"....Is there a reason you wear them?" I asked in a small whisper.

"I like them." He smiled. I nodded. "What about you?"

"Roger hates them, and I love them." Jude smiled more.

"Cool. I remember hating my family, like how you hate yours. I hated my older sister, Lindsey, cause she used to annoy me a lot. Well, she still does, but I can ignore her now. She's moved away to Louisiana to scare people on Halloween since she thinks its easier down there."

I laughed nervously. "Did you have to watch over four kids, two of them you don't count as family even if your mother did, and have to work at your step-father's restaurant that he was rarely at, and had to fight with him every day because of religious reasons or just because you were being you and your only real friend turned out to be a pothead and a drunkard that wanted to have you but you were already being to try and get away from him?" Jude shook his head.

"Sucks to be you. I'm sorry for that."

"Its not your fault." I smiled at him and then Ryan came back in.

"Roger and your mom are here, Miss. Trafford," he said. Jude hopped off my bed.

"What was your first name again?" he asked messing with the bangs in his eyes.

"Tylor, but you can call me Ty-Ty, if you want," I said smiling more.

"Alright, Tylor..." Roger and Abby came into the room then. Abby rushed to my side.

"Sweetie, are you ok?" she asked. "Are you feeling better? Dr. Porter said that you should heal rather fast, but..."

"Abby, Abby, Abby....don't make yourself have a heart attack, I'm fine. No need to worry. I'm fine," I said in a calm, slow voice.

"OH, right....sweetie, Dr. Porter said that he'd like you to attend the Flight Academy....Roger's not quiet sure if he wants you at that school or at Fountain Valley, but I'll accept anything you choose to do."

"I'd like to go to Flight Academy," I said, trying to hide my enthusiasm. "I mean, since its a boarding school, I won't be a bother at home and I'll be one less mouth to feed. Also, you won't have to put up with me doing spells and circles or begging to go out of town or anything." The last part was directed more to Roger.

My mom bit her lip. "How about we sleep on it?" I nodded. I glanced around the room.

"Where's my clothes?" I mumbled. My mom took them out of her purse.

"We'll all leave you so you can get dressed," Ryan said. Roger left first, then my mom and then Ryan.

Jude, before he left, turned and smiled at me then left and shut the door. I got up and examined my whole body. There were bandages decorating my legs (some from cutting myself badly when shaving) and my arm had a bandage wrapping all the way up to my shoulder. I quickly took off the hospital gown and my bracelets. I stared at my wrists where the cuts were, bringing back the pain and memories. Some where from after I killed the first 4 football players and I wanted to make sure I didn't try it again, and the 6 football players I did more damage to myself, including a huge gash in my side.

I quickly put my black System of the Down tanktop on and then pulled on my short, purple plaid skirt and my black knee-length leggings. Then slipped on my rainbow socks and then, last but not least my really high high tops. I carried the trench-hoodie, slipping it on my shoulders as I walked out.

I walked out of the room and Jude was the first one to look at me. Ryan was talking to Roger and Abby. "Hey," he said. "You look nice." I smiled at him.

"Thank you," I replied. I then realized how he was dressed. He had on a bright green tie with a purple polo. Not the ugly, preppy polos, one where it had Gir from _Invader Zim_ on the back and it was all bright and fun looking. He also had very nice pants. They were dark blue and somewhat faded.

Roger looked at me then. "Tylor, c'mon....we better get going," he said in his irritating voice. I sighed.

"Bye, Ryan. Jude. Thank you," I said nodding to the two.

"Don't mention it," Ryan said. "It was a pleasure to help you."

"Its no problem," Jude said. I then fallowed my mom and her husband out of the hospital and to the car. I could've sworn that Jude said, "Bye, my mùirn beatha dàn." Mùirn beatha dàn was Latin for soul mate and used in Wicca for blood witches, but I'm not a blood witch (at least, I don't think I am), actually, right now I'm not sure what anything is now....it seemed interesting for him to call me 'mùirn beatha dàn'. And I was probably hearing things. Like always.

End of First Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

**Flight**

Chapter 2: Embarrassment

~ -- -- ~

I flopped down on my bed giggling. "Oh, Evna!" I laughed loudly, "You should've been there. He was so sweet and understanding. He's like the perfect guy."

"Which means he's probably going to die soon, turn out gay, already taken, or he's just an illusion of your imagination?" Evna giggled.

"Probably. Or he's actually a jerk that hides it to get the girl."

Evna smiled. "Of course. But, we can cross off that he's an illusion. Mom, Roger, and I saw him, also. And Ryan pointed him out, too."

"Right. So that leaves the other three. And if it turns out he's not one of them..."

"OH, my god!" Evna burst into giggles. I got up.

"He did call me his 'mùirn beatha dàn'. You remember what that is, right? From what I've taught you?"

"Of course. It means soul mate, right?"

"Yeah...but I _think_ he called me that when I was leaving, but I'm not positive if I actually heard that or my brain just wished it did."

"But if he **did** that means he's got a thing for you!"

"YES!" I flopped back onto my bed. Roger came into the room in his robe, ready to sleep.

"Quiet down, Tylor. Some people in this city are trying to sleep. Like everyone is in this house. You two should get to sleep. Now," he ordered then left the room. I stuck my tongue out at the closed door.

"Did you tell him about the football players?" Evna asked as she kicked her way under her covers. I looked at her. Oh, snap, did she read my diary where I wrote down about that thing? OH, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to keep my voice even as I wiggled under the covers. The pictures of their dead bodies and their falling truck and their screams. I fought the urge to shiver as the images made me feel dead inside.

"How almost all the football members have died? I mean, like, how they're dead now, you know?"

"Oh, yeah...I did..." I looked down at my covers. "We should get to bed, Roger was right. For once." Evna giggled at that.

"Ok....g'night, Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty." She snuggled into her quilt and fell asleep so easily. I fought the semi-jealous-semi-sad burning tears from leaking from my eyes as I stared at her. I wish I could go back to the time when I was innocent and I wasn't a killer and I could sleep without any worries of nightmares. I felt one tear escape and then I shut the lamp off and turned over to the wall and tried to sleep.

-- ~ ~ --

For once, I had a nice dream. For the first part, anyway. It was nicer than the other ones. I had a dream where Jude and I were having a picnic and I was dressed like someone from the 20's or something in a soft red-orange dress and a sun hat. He was dressed in a black button up shirt and long gray pants. When all of a sudden, the police came and Ryan was there. He told me that he found out about what I did to the football players and that I was going to be brought to justice. I swore I saw the fear on Jude's face, but he tried to protect me.

But....

He got shot by one of the policemen—which all oddly looked like Roger—and I swore I saw his soul, along with the football players' souls—and they all looked at me and asked why I killed them. Then I woke up at midnight and fell asleep again and had a dreamless sleep. I woke up again at 6, like usual. Even for a Saturday. I got up and went to brush my teeth. I bumped (almost literally) into my mom on the way to the bathroom. She handed me a blue towel.

"Go get your clothes so you can get dressed in the bathroom, sweetheart. We have some company," she said. For some reason, the fact she was dressed and the part about us having company didn't register in my half-asleep brain. I nodded like a bobble head and walked like a zombie from Resident_ Evil _back to Evna and my room and grabbed a tube top, short, Nightmare Before Christmas dress-thing and some black leggings and walked back to the bathroom.

I quickly brushed my teeth and then got into the shower. The warm water on my body eased the tension in my brain. I hated how I was a killer. Accidental killer, I think they call accidental killing man slaughter (yeesh, sounds WORSE), but killer all the same. After my shower I absentmindedly got dressed. I quickly went downstairs, pushing some of my hair was over the parts where there would be straps on this dress since Roger makes a huge fuss about how its not appropriate and snapple and—Oh, Goddess. Jude and Ryan are here. Oh snap.

"Good morning, Tylor," Jude greeted me, his beautiful, forest green eyes getting attached to my funky green ones. His eyes trailed down my body in an instant then back up to my face. "You look lovely in a dress."

"Good morning," was what I was aiming for, but I blurted out gibberish. I shook my head fast, feeling my face getting warmer. "I-I mean, good morning. I'm....I'm not that good with....c-communication skills when I wake up...s-sorry..."

"I don't think you're good with communication skills, even when you've been awake for hours," my older sister, Alexia, snickered as she walked in, swishing her hips like the slut she was. I swear, she brought home a different guy every freaking night, and they'd do it in her room every freaking night. Her full, blonde, volumed, long hair bounced on her head. Her blue eyes were glued onto Jude and Ryan. What she want? Threesome? I huffed and rolled my eyes. "Oh, and that _Dove _bottle in your shower isn't shampoo or conditioner, idiot, its soap." She pulled on one piece of my wet hair as that slowly sank into my already hectic brain.

"OH, SNAPPLE!" I yelled grabbing my head. Evna came down the stairs rubbing her eyes. She was in a black tutu and she had a black, sleeveless corset on. I taught her how to dress. Go me.

"Are you and Roger fighting again, Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty?" she yawned. "Or are you fighting with Bobby? Or Author? Or mommy? Or are you fighting with Alexia? Or are you fighting with the voices in your head that you won't tell anyone what they're telling you? Are you going to kill someone?"

"Huh?" I mumbled. "Oh, I'm not fighting--"

"For once," Alexia added.

"Shut up. Just, Alexia just told me that I've been pretty much.....destroying my hair for the past week and she didn't tell me." Evna nodded then she looked at Ryan and Jude.

"OH! Good morning, Jude! Dr. Porter, sir!" she squealed in a more awake voice. She bolted to the seat next to Ryan and sat down. I laughed at her. Always so hyperactive around men.

Jude's voice made me jump, "Tylor, would you like to sit by me?" His voice was so gentle that I pretty much floated to the seat.

"Sure," I sighed. When I sat down it took me a second to realize how graceful I was. Usually I would've tripped on the rug or something and fallen flat on my face and—in this case—embarrassingly in Jude's lap, destroying my reputation and life years to come.

"You're awakening has speed up," Jude whispered ever so quietly to me, probably making sure that Alexia and Evna didn't hear him, "Its normal for it to speed up and slow down from time to time." I nodded.

"Thanks. I'm sorry if Alexia does anything slutty," I whispered back, "She'll probably start flirting with you soon."

"You know, I'm right here," Alexia growled as she glared at me. I looked at her boredly.

"I know. You're hard not to notice, Alexia. Just thought you should know."

Roger and Abby walked in from the kitchen with plates of food in their arms. Eggs, bacon, toast, oranges (have to have oranges in Orange County), pancakes, waffles, hash browns, bagels, sausage, ham, and all sorts of other food items decorated the long table once Roger and Abby were done bringing in the food. My mom asked Alexia to go get everyone from their rooms or where ever they may be and get them into the dinning room. Once everyone sat down, Roger embarrassed me in the one way he knows best.

"Dr. Porter? Jude? Would either of you like to say grace?" he asked. I felt my face flush with embarrassment.

"Hmm...?" Jude replied, "OH, no, Father Panni, I'm not Christian and I wouldn't want to freak anyone out with how I pray."

"I'm atheist," Ryan said quickly.

Roger nodded stiffly giving the two men a strange look then bowed his head to pray. Jude glanced at me from the side and looked like he was holding back a chuckle. I looked at him with a questioning look. He poked his head.

_This is so weird...I've never been in a home where you actually have to thank someone for the food. Its funny, _he thought

I tried to hold back a giggle. I replied in thought, _I know, but Roger is a priest....I don't understand what they're supposed to do. I mean, he's tried to get some 'demon' out of me when I was younger. Pft. He's a freak._

Jude nodded then quickly sat up straight. _Oh Goddess that was quick._

That's when I noticed Roger was done with the prayer-thing and was beginning the circling of the plates, handing them directly to Ryan and Jude to help themselves first. Jude, once he was done with his, helped me by holding the plate as I got an egg. I blushed a bit when I took the plate from him and our hands brushed for an instant. Man, I'm shy.

"So, Dr. Porter," Roger started after a while of silence, minus the sound of forks scratching plates and glasses hitting, "You've proposed that Tylor attends your school, correct?"

"Yes, Father, I have," Ryan answered in a way that seemed very rehearsed, yet casual, "The Academy is academically one of the best in the state and we accept any student from any part of the world."

Roger nodded. "Interesting. Is there anybody you don't let attend your school? Any discrimination?"

Ryan cocked an eyebrow. "We do not. Why do you ask?"

"You're pretty much saying you'd let children that are failing into your school and children that are at the lowest point of bad behavior. How could this be?" He totally avoided answering. On the outside it won't seem like it, but Roger is racist. I swear. He hates the Mexican people, the African-American people, and pretty much everyone except for white folks. He's Hitler, I swear. I, on the other hand, I accept everyone as they are. I see the positives of the person, including their race as a special part of them, and embrace it.

"We look at the child's background and figure out what it is that makes the child that way, the parents, the home life, money problems, mental issues, whatever the cause, and try to help the child." Roger nodded.

"You're not from this state, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm actually from all the way across the nation, but that's not important."

"Alright....more on your school....how is the boarding situations set up? Are there co-ed dorms?"

"Actually, depending on the student, we usually have at least one person per dorm, at the very most three. But its all on the students. I know two girls that would love to bunk with your stepdaughter. They're very nice girls, Erica Finch and Lydia Lilith. They're relatively good girls."

Jude made a noise like he was going to burst out laughing but passed it off as he just swallowed too much or something. "Relatively," he said in a funky voice, "Right."

"Jude," Ryan said in a stern voice. Jude straightened up quickly. Ryan turned back to Roger, "Sorry. Jude is suspects things a lot about things, especially the students at the Academy. His assumptions sooner or later usually turn out to be false."

Roger nodded and pulled on the fuzz on his face. He then looked to Abby. "Abby, what do you think?"

Evna looked at them then to me. "Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty's going somewhere?" she asked. She must've been zoned out for the past few minutes or staring at Ryan and/or Jude.

I smiled and told her, "Evna, I might be going to Flight Academy."

"Seriously?!"

"Yep."

"No fair. I hate you."

"I know. I'm so lucky. One second I'm running into trucks, the next I'm going to the top school in the state." Evna stuck her toung out at me.

"Why do older siblings get all the cool stuff?"

"I know, right?" Jude chuckled. "I'm the youngest of two, but the oldest one was as horrible as an army of people." Evna giggled.

Abby pipped up then, "I think that Tylor should go. See how things go for about two months or so and if things aren't terrible, she can stay there."

Roger nodded. "Sounds like a plan. So--"

"When do I get packing?" I said a little too fast to no one in particular.

"Tylor, let me finish," Roger said sternly adding a glare to his words then looked back to Ryan, "When will Tylor be attending your school?"

"I propose as soon as possible. Delaying it makes it harder on the student, besides, Miss. Trafford seems rather enthusiastic about it." I was literally bouncing in my chair, how could I not be enthusiastic?!

"And going there would make home life a whole lot simpler, with less fights," I added in a sweet voice, "And nothing about Wicca will be mentioned in this home again, like how you wish it would be like and you'll see less of my dark, funky clothes as Alexia puts it."

Roger glanced at me then to Ryan. "Would it be a bother if she left with you two?"

"No, we've got enough room for her," Ryan said smiling. I smiled more. I can't believe I'm going to actually be attending that school.

"Alright...Tylor, are you done--"

"Eating? Of course," I said talking really fast as I got up and started to walk towards him and Abby, "And I can go upstairs and get packed real fast. This may be the only time I'll actually say this, and I can't believe I'm saying it, really, and neither will you, because....well, whatever, I love you, Roger! Thank you!" I hugged him and my mom and kissed the top of my mom's head then ran upstairs quickly.

I heard Jude chuckle quietly, then I heard someone get up fallowed by Evna's voice, "May I be excused? I'm done eating and I want to go help Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty get packed."

I ignored Roger's reply, but I heard Evna's frantic footsteps—and when she tripped—on her way up to our room. She stopped in the door way and I turned to her. "Ty-Ty...I don't want you to go," she said. She looked like she was on the urge of crying. I felt a rush of pain in my heart as I stared at her. I crouched down to her level and spread my arms to pull her into a hug.

"We'll be together again, Evna," I said in a soft voice, "I'm sure at Flight they'll let me come see you guys and you guys can come see me. Just think of it as I'm meeting a lot of neat people and I'm going to force them to come see my family, just so they could come see you." Evna smiled slightly, but quickly burst into tears and rushed into my arms.

"I'll miss you," she said her voice muffled by my shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Evna," I said even softer, "And I'll miss you, too."

The next thing she said caught me off guard, "You aren't going to be like daddy, aren't you?" I froze and looked at her slowly. "Daddy left us, you told me that, and you're leaving us, right?"

"I'll still be around. How about this? I'll call you everyday after school and you can babble to me on what happened to you, then I can babble to you about all the cute guys at the school and send you pictures of them and all my new friends, alright?" She nodded slightly. "And don't let Super-Dork get to you. Tell him that if he bothers you even the _slightest _bit, ol' Ty-Ty's going to slap him upside the head next time she sees him."

Evna giggled. "Alright." She stepped away from me slightly and smiled at me. I stood up.

"Here, help me get packed and I'll give you something to remember me, ok?" Evna nodded as she sucked up the rest of her sobs. "Alright, you can get all my dresses and shirts and accessories, and I'll get my bottoms and shoes and my tooth brush and all my undies, alright?" She nodded. I opened up the closet door and looked for my suitcase for when we had to go on a trip somewhere, like when Grandma died. I pulled out the purple and black bag and set it on my bed.

Evna rushed over to my dresser and pulled open the top drawer and took out my shirts in stacks carefully (she's a little OCD) and set them in the suit case like they were highly active bombs. I smiled at her and looked for all my pants in the bathroom and on the floor (I'm messy)(that's the only way I really get on Evna's nerves) and in the laundry basket and then rushed downstairs to the basement to look threw the assortment of clothes on the folding rack then rushed back upstairs with my arms filled with clothes (some actually being Alexia's that I was stealing just for the hell of it) and stuff them into the suitcase (if it were living, poor thing).

When I got to the room, Evna was already getting my accessories into the bag. Man, that kid works fast. I went around the house then to find all my underwear and bras (cause I like to leave them in random places to annoy Roger and to make sure when his 'church buddies' come over, it looked like there was a Playboy Bunny party here or something)(now its sorta embarrassing, since I had to walk by Jude and Ryan, who were now in the living room, talking to the rest of my family, a couple of times).

When all was put into the poor suitcase, Evna zipped it shut and she and I sat on top of it. "Let's see...what now?"

"Your computer, sketchbook, stuff like that."

"Oh, snapple-doodle, you're right. Where'd I--?"

"Are you looking for these?" Jude asked holding up my computer bag (with my light weight scanner and digital camera in it) and my messenger bag with my sketchbook, drawing books, my old sketchbooks that I carry around just so I can look back on how I drew, and all my pencils and pens. I smiled and hopped off the suitcase and ran over to him.

"Yeah! Thank you, Jude," I said smiling up at him barely registering how close we were I put my hands on the straps of the two bags, my hands so close to his.

"I've got them," he said smiling more.

"I don't want to be a bother."

"You're not. I don't mind carrying a woman's bags." Hee-hee, he called me a woman. I heard Evna get off the suitcase and walk over somewhere.

I turned to where I heard her footsteps stop and saw her reaching up for one of her teddy bears. "Evna, get down from there, you'll hurt yourself. What are you doing?" I said as I walked over to her.

"I don't want you to forget me, Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty," she said, still stretching to reach the bear, "So I wanna give you one of my teddies so that whenever you have those nightmares of yours, you can have a part of me to hug." I felt tears kiss my eyes.

"Evna."

"I'll give you my favorite, even, since she's pretty and nice looking, and you're pretty and nice."

"Evna, I could never forget you...I'll be alright...I swear," I said, grabbing her by her waist and hoisting her down from her dresser. "I could never forget you."

"But who will you hug if you have those nightmares again and there's no one around to hug?"

Jude spoke up, "She could hug me. I give free hugs." Evna looked at him and ran over to him and randomly hugged him and he hugged her back.

"No offense, Jude, but guys don't have the same way that they hug like a girl. A girl's hug is like a mother's hug, protecting and knowing and sweet. Guy's hugs are like spicy foods. They're good and awesome, but have too much at one time, you'll choke."

I shook her head. "Alright, I'll take one of your dolls." I looked at her doll collection. There were tiny ones, ones that were medium sized ones, and ones that were relatively lard, then life-size ones. My eyes landed on one where it was a medium gray bear who's fur was the same color as Evna's hair. I grabbed that bear with ease and examined it. There was a rip over its heart that was stitched up. Just like Evna. "Who's this one?"

"That's Theodore. Thee-Thee's actually a girl, but she was named Theodore."

"Is she one of your favorites?"

"No...I like her a bit, but not that much."

"Do you mind if I take her?"

Evna shrugged. "Not really." She came over to me and looked at 'Theodore'. She always named her dolls weird names. Like unisex names that no one really thinks of or some foreign name.

"Alright. I'm set. Except for one thing." I bent down and hugged Evna. "I won't be like dad, alright. I'll be back as soon as I can. Heck, when they say 'winter break' for you all, I'll be here waiting for you all to get home!" Evna smiled weakly and nodded. "Don't go hitting trucks head on just so you can come see me, alright? We'll see eachother again." She nodded again. I kissed her forehead. "Bye, Evna."

"Bye, Ty-Ty-Ty." I stood up and looked at Jude then went to get my suitcase. "Ty-Ty-Ty?" Evna called to me.

"Huh?" I twirled to her.

"Can I call you if I need help on my homework?"

I smiled. Same old Evna. "Sure. I'll be a calculator for you." She smiled more.

"Bye. Don't forget about me."

"I won't. Bye." Jude and I went downstairs to meet a waiting Ryan, with Abby and Roger. I slipped on my super-high tops and my trench-hoodie and flipped the hood up when I saw it was raining outside. I hugged my mom and shook hands with Roger. He did his Catholic forehead-heart-right-breast thing and I did a pentagram in the air.

"Bye, Tylor," he said. My mom was crying happily.

"Don't be a stranger like your father," she said kissing my cheek. "Remember, if you need anything, we're always here for you." I smiled at her and nodded.

"See you," I waved to them then went out the door with Ryan and Jude. The two guys waved to my family, which crowded into the living room, waving good-bye to me, Evna in front. I waved to them and then turned to see Ryan's car. OhmyfreakingGoddess. It was a super nice sports car.

"Something the matter, Miss. Trafford?" Ryan asked wide eyed seeing that I stopped in my tracks.

"That's one sweet car," I said in one breath. It was a Dodge Charger. No fair. I noticed a lime green motorcycle parked behind it. "And motorcycle." Jude smiled smugly.

"The motorcycle's mine," he said, "But I'd let you ride it on the way to the Academy if you wish." I nodded still staring at the two vehicles.

"Hell yes," I gasped. Ryan snapped me out of my trance somehow and got me to put my suitcase and other bags into the trunk of the charger and he smiled at Jude.

"Race you?" he asked. Jude smirked.

"You know I'll beet you, Ryan," the black-and-green haired teen said. Man, I'm already loving the Academy if the Dean, I guess, of it is as fun as this!

"Oh? I'd like to see you try! See you two there!" Ryan then slipped into the Charger and zoomed off. Jude helped me onto the bike and gave me a helmet then got on himself.

"Hold on tight, Tylor, or you'll be blown off," he said. I locked my arms around his waist like I saw people do all the time on motorcycles. He then zoomed, shortly gaining on Ryan. I stared behind us, not believing how far we were already. Jude made a sharp turn, and we were inches off of the ground, literally. My eyes widened as I saw the asphalt get so close to my face.

It seemed like seconds, and then we were at the Academy, the big gates opening. Jude barely slowed down as he entered. He slowed to a stop at the front of the school. He took off his helmet and shook his head. "Ah, damn, I thought I'd won," he laughed. I tore my eyes from the beautiful school and looked. Ryan had beat us.

Jude got off of the bike and helped me off and helped me with my helmet. "That was so fun!" I squeaked as my hands automatically messed with my hair. Jude smiled at me.

"Would you like to ride with me again some day? I could teach you how."

"Sure." I heard the big doors open and I saw two girls come out. One was tan, but not tan like Jude, and the other was black. The tan-ish girl had long, tight curly, dark-brown hair and her eyes looked almost black and the black girl had short black hair all messed up and she also had black-looking eyes.

"Ryan, you're back!" yelled the black girl happily. "So, how'd it go? Did--"

"OH MY GODDES! HIII!" yelled the tan one when she noticed me. I stared at her like I was a deer in the headlights of a Hummer or something. She ran over to me and skidded to a stop right in front of me and held out her hand. "I'm Ericka Finch. You must be Tylor, right?"

"Yes," I said (I'm surprised my voice isn't all shaky and stuff), "I'm Tylor. Tylor Trafford."

The black girl noticed me then. "Oh, hi," she walked over me slower than Ericka did. "I'm Lydia Lilith. I'm sorry about Ericka, she just had some root beer and she gets extremely hyper."

"Uh....huh...." I looked back to Ericka for a second.

"So, Jude," Ericka said, exaggerating the 'ude' in Jude's name, "Is Tylor your girlfriend?"

I wish I were. "No, Ericka," he said.

"But, you were thinking--"

"Stay out of my thoughts."

Ericka looked at me again. "I love your dress," she said. I nodded.

"Thanks..."

"Oooh! Sweet-ass bracelets! Can I see some?" She reached out to grab one from my wrist. I jerked back, more than with Jude.

"No!" I almost shouted then noticed what I did. "I mean, no...." Ericka looked at me with knowing eyes.

"Hiding something?"

"No...maybe..."

"Don't worry, tonight, in our dorm, around mid-night, or earlier, or later, or whatever, we'll tell eachother secrets, and Lydia and I will tell you our deepest, darkest secrets and you can tell yours. We won't judge you." I nodded.

"Ok..."

"You're our roommate, anyway, and Lydia and I swore that we would try to befriend all of our roommates. And I can tell that you and me and Dia will be the bestestestestest of friends ever. Even more than Jude and Michael. Which is hard to pull off. But we could. I know it. Cause I'm cool like that."

I nodded slowly. Jude rolled his eyes then looked at me. "Should we go put your thing into your new dorm room?" he asked. I nodded.

"But I get to carry the computer and sketchbook."

"Fine, I'll get the suitcase."

"What? That's not what I meant." I had to grab Jude by his hood (he's wearing a black hoodie with a purple hood with green interior) to try to stop him, but it failed.

"So, I'll still do it."

"I meant, I'll carry my things and the three of you could show me the way."

"Too bad."

I heard Ericka giggle, "Already bickering like a couple. How sweet, huh, Dia?"

"Yep."

I ignored them.

-- ~ ~ --

Somehow, I let Jude carry my things. When we got to the dorm, Ericka made it seem like a huge secret and opened the door slowly, reviling a big room with a TV with a DVD-VHS thing with a Blueray thing below it, a big couch, a stereo and a ninifridge. I saw that in the next room there were three large beds, one with light ice blue sheets on it and it was surrounded by ocean like things, the other had black sheets and a purple lava lamp with things like demons and stuff around it. The middle bed had purple-green-maroon-orange-purple-blood-red-purple-black-and-purple sheets with a Jack Skeleton lamp and it had Japanese and Cherokee things surrounding it.

"Its so...so..." I gasped.

"Rich looking?" Lydia (I learned I should call her Dia, but I don't feel like it) said. "Yeah, but you'll get used to it. Its home."

I looked around the room. It was so pretty. Jude's voice made me jump, "Would you like me to help you unpack?"

An image (which I hope he didn't see) of him holding my panties popped in my head and I blushed. "N-no....I can do it." I smiled shyly at him.

"Alright."

"Jude, shouldn't you and the pack go on patrol soon?" Ericka asked.

"Oh, damn, you're right!" Jude looked at his watch quickly then bolted out of the room.

"Pack?" I asked.

"You'll learn. Jude's not an ancient-ancient. But, then again, I'm not one either and neither is Dia."

"....not ancient-ancient?"

"Its what we call the blood ancient. The ones that have only ancient in them, nothing else. Like Ryan, for example. He's the only one we know of. Anyway, Dia's a mermaid-ancient, and Jude's a shape shifter-wolf-who-likes-to-be-called-werewolf-though-its-really-not-ancient, then there's me."

"What are you?"

"I'm a hybrid-vampire-ancient. The second most powerful type of ancient there is. Only the ancient-ancients are more powerful."

"Mermaid-ancients aren't that powerful, though, so you have no worries about me," Dia sighed. "Do you know which type of ancient you are?" I shook my head slowly.

"Dia, you know she's a newbie in this. I think she might be a vampire-ancient. since she's so pale."

"Like how we thought Leyton was? Remember? He turned out to be ancient-ancient, too! Just with all those diseases."

"Yeah...she does have eyes awfully like Ryan's, huh?"

I looked to the side. "Uh...what if I'm like an...angel-ancient?"

"Those are rare, and you'll not. We already know," Dia said.

"Yep. Do you know what your special is?" Ericka asked as the two followed me into the bedroom. I set my suitcase on the bed and looked at my new dressed, I guessed. It was fully black. I like it here already. I started to put things away before I answered her.

"Special...?" Ok, its not answer, but...whatever.

"Yeah, you know. Like, can you.....I don't know...absorb people's powers like me? Control fire like Dia? Something?"

I shrugged. "Um....I guess I can move things with my mind...."

"COOL! Like what? Throw them and stuff?"

"Yeah."

"THAT'S AWESOME! Toss Dia."

"WHAT?!" Dia shouted.

Just then, Ryan came threw the door and came into our bedroom. "Hey, Miss. Trafford, are you enjoying the Academy?" he asked.

"Yep," I said, setting some things on the nightstands beside the bed.

"Good....I've brought your schedule." He held up a piece of paper and I hopped off my bed and took it from him and looked at it.

I quickly read over it.:

**1st Period/Homeroom: Carolt0n English**

**2nd Period: Remington Math**

**3rd: Corbin Music**

**4th: Akem Japanese**

**Lunch**

**5th: Yesmin History**

**6th: Ervings Science**

**7th: Porter Awakening 101**

Awakening 101? "Are you teaching the last class, Ryan?" I asked.

"No, my sister. But I'll come and observe. Students usually get injured in that class." I looked back down. So that was PE.

"Alright...."

"And I'm sure Ericka and Lydia will tell you the rules of the school. I hope you have a good day, Miss. Trafford." He bowed slightly and turned to exit the dorm.

"Um....Ryan?" I called.

"Yes?" He turned back around.

"Um....you can call me Tylor if you want....and I was wondering....if, let's say my sister gets annoyed by my brother and she tells him that I'm going to smack him upside the head, is it alright if I go and smack my brother upside the head after school?"

Ryan looked like he was fighting back laughing really hard. "Sure. The students are allowed to go where ever they please after school lets out. They just have to be back before it gets dark."

"Ok. Thank you."

"No problem, Tylor." He then disappeared. I blinked.

"Its a fully-awakened ancient trick," Dia said, "You'll get used to him popping up randomly and disappearing." I nodded and went back to unpacking. There was only one thing left to take out of my bag. Theodore. I took out the small teddy bear and held it in my hand staring at it.

"Aw, that's a cute teddy!" Ericka sighed. "Where'd you get it? Who gave it to you?"

"My sister gave it to me so I wouldn't forget her. She's paranoid."

"Aw, that's so cute!" Dia said. "How old is your sister?"

"She's 13, but she acts younger than she is sometimes."

"Cool." Dia glanced at the mermaid clock on her nightstand and gasped. "Ericka, hun, we're going to be late for class!" She bolted out of the door, grabbing her bag on the way out. Ericka looked at her clock and gasped.

"OH, snap!" She raced out of the room, too. So I'm all alone. Great. I'm not supposed to be alone. I took off my bracelets and ran my fingers over the raised skin from the failed cutting experiences, and then over the deep cuts, wincing slightly at the sharp pain, then over the smaller ones, then over the fresh, two day old ones, wincing more. I heard the door open again and my head snapped up. I wouldn't have any time for me to cover my cuts.

End of Chapter


	3. Chapter 3

**Flight**

Chapter 3: Guardian

-- ~ ~ --

I stared at the person standing in the doorway of Ericka, Dia, and my dorm's door. He was tall, 5' 11", and had glasses and a broad face. He had on white and black Tripp pants and a purple hoodie with a white collared shirt on with a cool purple pattern on it. Cool, purple. He was black and had black looking eyes and long (to the base of his neck), black, stiff hair that was tied into a ponytail in the back.

"Oh, um, hi," he stuttered. "I'm sorry....I heard there was a new student here and....I'm supposed to show her around. Are you her?"

"I guess," I said shrugging. I quickly snapped my bracelets back on. "I'm Tylor Val Trafford. What's your name?"

"I'm Elliot Johnson," he smiled. For some reason, he seemed kinda cute, in a freaky way. "Welcome to Flight Academy."

"Thank you." I got up and walked over to him.

"Oh, I love your shoes. And your dress. I wish I had money for those things," he mumbled the last part.

"Thank you. I like you're pants. They're interesting."

"Thanks. So, where do you want to start? Your first period?"

"Sure...um....I have...English with Carlton for first."

"Ah! Carlton is great. C'mon." I followed Elliot out of the dorm and glanced at the beautiful hallways we went threw, trying to take in the way to Mr. Carlton's room. I noticed a lot of people staring at me. I speed up to walk next to Elliot.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I whispered.

"Hmm...? Oh, cause you're new and you don't have on the uniform," he said. I looked to a crowd passing us. I noticed that some of the girls in the group had on short, plaid skirts on, while others had on shorts with the same plaid pattern, and others had long pants with the plaid and they had white shirts, some had vests or sweaters or sweater-vests over the white shirt, while others had suit jackets on. While the boys, most being pretty good looking, had on pretty much the same attar, minus the plaid and skirts. Instead, they had either white, light-gray, dark-gray, or black pants or shorts on.

"But wait....you don't have on a uniform either," I said looking back to Elliot. He smiled.

"If you ask Ryan nicely, he'll let you wear a variation of the uniform. Very few students know that. I'm in uniform. I'm a fourth year, and the fourth years wear black. First years, like you, wear white, so you're _sort of _in uniform, seeing as your dress is white, but I don't think all the teachers would approve of the strapless, well, except Mr. Corbin, but that's because he's sort of a pedophile. Just so you know. But I think he's set on one girl, so you might be alright. Anyway, second years wear light-gray and third years wear dark-gray."

"The thing about Mr. Corbin is reassuring, but about the colors....is there a reason for the colors? Like religious or something?"

"Nope....Ryan just wanted it like that. I think he said he knows that EVERY child that comes here starts out pure, or as close as they can get, like for you, I think you're the purest yet, and by fourth year, either our hearts can take a turn for the worst and go evil and the black usually represents evil, but it also represents warmth, if you think of it, so it also means we might embrace the warmth of goodness."

If I'm the purest one to come here, I'd hate to see the rest of the first years. How many people did they kill? A whole country? No wonder the Roman empire fell in on itself. I decided to change the subject, "So...um...what type of ancient are you? Ericka told me she's a hybrid-vampire-ancient and Dia told me she's a mermaid-ancient....what are you?"

"Me? I'm a giant-ancient. Do you know about yourself?"

"Nope...I hope its not something creepy....like a...goblin-ancient or Yeti-ancient or....or...."

"Goblin-ancient? Yeti-ancient? You serious believe those things exist? Yeah right! The only thing you'll need to worry about is being a succubus-ancient. Now, being that sucks."

"Succubus-ancient?" I felt my heart tighten.

"Yeah....Succubus-ancients are more succubus than ancient, really. But their still ancient. Its hard to explain. Over all, everyone's an ancient, but very few are full-ancient, if you get what I'm saying."

"Uh-huh..." I looked down trying to register that when I saw Jude walking up to us he was smiling at Elliot.

"Heh, nothing again," he laughed, "It was a good run, though. You should've seen the fight Michael and Jack got into. They were fighting over Ericka again. You know them, jealousy and all." He then noticed me. "Hey, Tylor. Is Elliot taking good care of you?"

I nodded smiling at Jude. "Very good care of me," I said stumbling over my words and screwing up that sentence, "Um...We were heading to my first period....English with Carlton."

"Cool. I have that first period. What about the rest of your schedual? I'm curious of what other classes I have with you...."

"Math with Remington."

"Hmm..do have that. But I thought it was only for 3rd years."

Elliot smiled. "I guess Tylor's excelled."

I smiled too. "Yep. Um....I've got music with Corbin for third."

"Oh, you've got my brother," Jude said real worry (or something like it) in his voice, "Naturally, I have him, too."

I giggled a bit then said, "Then I have Japanese with Akem."

"Ah, good language. I'm taken Latin, though. Its required in 3rd year so you don't look like an idiot talking to other ancients when the others start speaking in the Ancient language."

"Huh?" That was confusing.

"Latin was deprived from Ancient."

"Awesome!"

"Now, what about fifth. Everyone gets the same lunch."

"Um.....fifth? Oh, I have History with Yasmin."

"Good teacher. She's fun."

"Alright...then there's Science with Ervings."

"Ervings' a very experienced ancient, so he'll tell you a lot about past stuff—some say he should've been the History teacher—and he's very wise, but he'll tell his wisdom threw humor. So he's cool."

I nodded. "Then Awakening 101 with Porter. Ryan said that was with his sister."

"Yep. His sister's pretty nice."

"Is it like PE?"

"No, no....its cooler than PE. For one, you don't have to wear a stinky old uniform, and you actually get to work on some awesome skills all ancients have, from pixie-ancients to ancient-ancients like Ryan and his sister."

"Cool." I smiled up at Jude as he smiled to me.

Suddenly, a voice I didn't recognize said in a high pitched tone, "Aw! Super heart beam!"

"JAYN! GO AWAY! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE IN CHEMESTRY?!" growled Elliot. I looked and saw a girl that had on a white shirt with a hoodie over it and a light gray skirt on with leggings underneath. She had long, mid-back-length, black hair and brown eyes.

"Says who, Elliot? Aw, are you and her like twins?!" she asked in a normal tone.

"Jayn, go away," growled Jude.

"Ooh, Jude. You're turning me on. Who's the new girl?" Jayn, I guess that's her name, started to speak to me in German and I couldn't understand one single word.

"What?" I said dumbly.

"Who are you? Where are you from? What year are you? What type of ancient are you? I'm Jayn Nicholas, I'm from Colorado, I'm a 2nd year, and I'm a vampire-ancient."

"Oh....um....I'm Tylor. Tylor Trafford....um....I'm from here...this town...um....I guess I'm a 1st year, and I have no clue what type I am. All I know is that I'm an ancient."

"Aw, she's so cute with her innocence, huh, Elliot? Like she's the cutest thing ever! Never knowing what's going to happen next at this school! So new and innocent and....virgin."

"Huh?" I blushed brightly.

"I told you I'm a vampire-ancient. I can smell your blood and tell a lot about you. Huh? That's weird."

"You're weird, Jayn. Get to chemistry," Jude said sternly.

"Yeah, don't destroy Tylor so easily," Elliot said stepping in front of Jayn and blocking her from me.

"Aw, you two aren't fun. Or are you two? Ah well! See you! Bye, Tylor!" She waved to me weirdly and hopped off. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Innocent?" I whispered. "Where'd she get that from?" I barely realized I was thinking out loud.

"What do you mean, Tylor?" Jude asked in a humored voice. "Have you committed a murder or something?"

A cold chill went up my back at the word 'murder' that Jude threw so carelessly. "Um....maybe," I said quickly. A little too quick.

"So, shall we go to Mr. Carlton's class?" Elliot said.

"Alright," Jude said. "Coming, Tylor?" I nodded and fallowed them.

When we finally got to Mr. Carlton's room, a dark-blonde guy with a pony tail who was sorta fat, but not too fat, looked at us. His ocean-blue eyes seemed to be perfect on his plump face. I looked at the students. Two people staying back for tutoring. I almost forgot that it was Saturday.

"Hey, Jude. Elliot. is this my next victim?" the blonde haired guy, Mr. Carlton asked smiling widely.

"Yes, Mr. Carlton," Elliot said smiling, "This is Tylor Trafford. She's the new student Ryan told you about."

"Ah, the one that runs into trucks," Mr. Carlton laughed. I blushed and looked down.

"It wasn't my fault," I mumbled.

"Its alright, sweetie," Mr. Carlton said in a caring voice, "I tease all students. Right, Happy?" He looked at one of the students. A black kid looked up in surprise. The name Tyrone popped in my head.

"What?" he asked.

"See? But don't worry....If you're quiet, I won't tease you....much. Right, Starling?" He looked at Jude. Jude smiled.

"Sure, Carlton, sure," Jude chuckled. Jude looked at the other boy sitting in the class. "Michael, what are you doing here?"

"Ryan and Carlton caught me and Ike got into this big fight, so I'm stuck in here, but poor, old Ike is stuck in Ryan's office. And I heard that Ryan just had candy."

"Yeah, yeah....whatever," Elliot mumbled, "Excuses, excuses."

"By the way, Tylor," Mr. Carlton said catching my attention, "I give every student a nickname. What name haven't I given out yet. I've got Happy, Starling, Rose, Sweetheart, Jumpy.....how about Trucker?"

I looked away for a second then back. "Um..."

"I'm joking....how about...Just Sweetie? That'll work, huh?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"Sweetie."

"Mr. Carlton, we've got to get to her next period, so she knows her way around by dinnertime," Elliot said smiling. Mr. Carlton nodded, his pony tail bobbing.

"Alright....see ya, Sweetie."

I waved to him and walked out. The second we walked out, my phone started to ring. I took it out and saw Partick's name flash on the screen. Jude scared me when he spoke, "You don't have to talk to him if you dont' want to."

I looked up at him innocently. "What?"

"I can tell you don't want to talk to him," Jude said, sneering a bit at the word _him_, "I can also tell that he's part of the reason you ran face-first into that truck. He stunk when I meet him."

"I know...but he's still my friend," I said. Jude shrugged. I flipped open my phone and put it to my ear, "What is it? You need someone to pick you up from the bar again?"

"Nah, doll-face," Patrick laughed into the phone. "Just lonely. Your momma said you weren't home. Where you be, girl?"

"At school," I answered looking to the side. He was drunk. Great. "Where are you?"

"I'm at a jail.....you wanna come bail me out?"

"A JAIL?!" I squeaked. Jude made a look at me that said 'Get off the phone now'. I held up a finger, "Dude, what the hell?"

"Someone snitched on me, doll-face. They said the bail was 300 dollars."

"300....? I don't have that money, you idiot! And its not snitching if its saving lives."

"Its snitchin', and you know it, babe."

"Shut up, Patrick. You're going to have to get one of your guy-friends on this one, cause I'm not going to get you out of this."

"They're in here, too. Only you can help us, sweet thing, even my parents bailed on me. Can you believe that?"

"I'm not surprised. I have, too." I then shut my phone and looked at Jude. "He's in jail," I said quietly.

"I knew he would," Jude said.

"Who?" Elliot said.

"My closest friend, Patrick...."

"You poor baby." Elliot turned and gave me a hug, pulling me into his wide chest. I froze and glanced around quickly in fear.

"Uh.....Elliot?"

"Its ok." He let go. "Patrick'll get out of jail."

"Elliot, remember she's not used to the 'friendly giant'," Jude said.

"Oh, sorry," Elliot said smiling bashfully. "I hug all of my friends when they're down. Sorry."

"Its....ok," I said slowly, "Um....I'm just used to the California cold-no-one-cares-if-your-depressed shoulder."

"Oh....Jude was like that when I first meet him....I'm from the South-East, so you've got that southern hospitality with me!"

I laughed nervously. "Oh....cool." My phone started to ring again. I looked at it and Patrick's name flashed onto the screen again. "Great..." Jude grabbed my phone.

"Here, let me talk to him. I bet he won't call again," he said and flipped the phone up and put it to his ear.

"No, you don't--" He put a hand up and smiled a sexy smile. I seemed to forget what he was doing.

I heard Patrick say, "Hey, Tylor, baby, why'd you hang up? Lost connection?"

"Tylor does not wish to speak to you, Patrick, this is Jude Corbin. What do you want?" Jude asked his voice turning cold and almost like a teacher's voice to calm down a class or something.

"Jude? Who're you? I never heard of you, Jude. Who are you? Stealing Tylor's phone when I was talking to her!"

"Patrick, I'm sorry to tell you, but your assumption that I _stole_ Tylor's phone is incorrect. She allowed me to take it from her so she did not have to speak to you. What do you want?"

"Oh....cool.....uh.....hey, could you come bail me out? Its only 300..."

"I don't even know you. Please do not call back." He then shut the phone and looked at me. "Ok?"

I nodded. _Jude looked sorta scary there,_ I thought.

"Cool," I said breathlessly, "But knowing him he'll beg till someone bails him. Silly boy." I took my phone from Jude and put it in my pocket.

"You poor soul....I feel sorry you have to put up with that," Jude sighed, "Are you his girlfriend or something?"

"Hell no," I said sharply. "He is NOT my boyfriend. I actually think we shouldn't be friends at all."

Jude smiled. "Alright then....shale we go to Remington's class?"

"Sure...."

"Jude, shouldn't you be somewhere else?" Elliot asked. "I think Tylor has stuff she needs to get off her chest that she can't say in front of you. You know, girl and girl talk?"

"But you're not a girl," Jude laughed somewhat.

"I'm bi, I'm close enough to a girl, alright?"

"Fine....I'll walk far ahead of you so I don't hear you guys, alright?"

Elliot nodded. "That'll be fine, Jude." Jude walked far ahead of us and then we started to walk. "So....what's on your mind? You know I'll find out sooner or later, being an ancient and all."

"Huh? Oh," I mumbled and blushed brightly. For some reason, I thought I could trust this Elliot with my whole world. Every little secret of mine. "Well....you see.....I really like.....him," I jerked my head towards Jude, "But....I'm scared to tell him...cause....when ever I look at him, I remember something HORRIBLE I did to his friends from Fountain Valley."

"What did you do?" Elliot looked scared. I looked around to see if anyone was there and no one was in sight. I stood on my tip toes and whispered into his ear.

"I killed 10 of his friends accident, first only 4 then 6," I whispered.

Elliot looked at me wide eyed. "Get out of here, no way!"

"Mm-hmm....Ryan told me there's a 'wall' or something that's put up to prevent others from seeing if we're depressed or guilty or something, but I'm afraid when I talk to Jude...that wall will crumble and he'll read it and he'll hate me...."

"Honey," Elliot said in a wise-but-sassy voice, "Don't beat yourself up like that. No way would Jude do that....Hell, there's barely anyone that Jude doesn't like. Ok, his brother and this guy by the name Marvin, but that's it. And besides, every ancient kills at least 7 people when we're awakening. I'll admit, I killed 18 people....sure, I'm guilty for it, but....the humans won't find out....no need to beat yourself up, Tylor."

I nodded. "How many has Jude killed?"

"Well....I heard, he killed a dozen cheerleaders when he was first awakening and then 17 teachers, then his human girlfriend....or so he says he did. He says that he accidentally went all wolf-ancient around her, and he killed her....but truth, Ryan, says that actually she was depressed and came to his house on his birthday and he had to go use the bathroom and he was peeing when he heard a gun shot....he rushed out and found her with a gun in her hand in Leyton's room. Dead. Shot herself. I'm not sure why Jude tells the first story, but....Leyton says that he's too upset by the whole thing that he doesn't like telling the truth. Ryan says that Jude beats himself up about it, too....saying that if he just didn't leave her alone, she could still be around."

I looked at Jude and felt my heart tense. He couldn't have killed 29 (not including his girlfriend)(I don't think its his fault) people. Right? "How.....sad," I whispered.

"If you're just freaked by how many people Jude's killed, man, will you be surprised by how many Ryan's killed over the decades."

"Decades? But...he's only 20 something, right?"

"No....I'm 20 something.....Ryan's over 1,000, Tylor."

"How old is Jude?"

"He's only 18."

"Oh....cool..."

"I know you're not supposed to ask a girl, but how old are you?"

"I'm 16. I just got my license Thursday."

"Cool."

Jude turned around to us and for a second his green eyes just stared at me then he smirked, "C'mon, you slow pokes."

"Hey, don't call me slow poke," I called to him, "I'm a pure-blooded, fast-lane Californian."

"You can call me slow poke.....I'm a pure-blooded, slow-lane Virginian."

I laughed and then speed up to Jude. "We've stopped talking about things that you shouldn't hear, Jude."

"Alright....I _could _slow down, but....I don't want to slow down for the Virginian."

"Shut up," Elliot called to him. I laughed.

We shortly came to Remington's classroom. We entered the classroom, and I was flown back to Mid-Evil times. The walls were decorated with gray bricks like from the old castles in Europe (I went to Germany in the 9th grade once and saw them myself)(go me) and paintings of that era. My eyes landed on a—oh my freaking lord—guy in a freaking 14th century, puffy-ass sleeved outfit. Oh my lord.

"Hello, children, how are you this evening?" he asked. He had a red-and-white Texas-mustache and he was bald-headed except for an interesting hat with a pink feather in it.

"Hey, Mr. Remington," Elliot said, "This is your new student, Tylor Trafford." I nodded slightly. He got up from his stool and came up and kissed my hand like they did in Mid-Evil times. Funky.

"Nice to meet you, fair lady," Mr. Remington said politely.

"Pleasures all mine, sir," I replied doing a curtsy. My drama teacher had us learn Romeo and Juliet, that's the only reason why I know all this. I didn't pay attention in History.

"You don't have to act like that," he laughed, "This is all for show. Next week is show off your heritage and where you came from and where you were born. I'm getting way too into it this year."

"Yes, you are," Jude groaned. "For a second, I thought you were being serious."

"Of course not, Jude. I'd never. I've gotten over that. But you said you name was Tylor, right? Any nicknames you like to be called?"

"Um....Ty, but that's optional," I said thinking for a second, "No one here's called me that yet."

"Alright...So what are you troublemakers up to?"

"We're just showing Tylor around the school," Jude said. "Nothing TOO bad...."

Remington nodded. "Alright...better be on your way then....Seems that its getting dark faster than usual."

"Right," Elliot said. The two of them turned around and I quickly turned and ran after them to catch up.

"Where to next?"

"My brother's class," Jude sighed. I smiled.

"Sounds interesting."

Turned out, Jude's brother, Leyton Corbin, was really creepy. He had very, very, very pale skin, I mean, so pale, he made paper look black. That pale. And he had long black hair that made him look paler (if possible) and he had crimson-red eyes and when he smiled—only once—it was seriously creepy. I mean, all the scary films-past, present, AND future—put together looked like a film with a happy bunny skipping threw a field of flower with a rainbow and a unicorn in the background with _Fur Elise _playing compared to this man's smile.

We went on to Yasmin and she turned out to be pretty cool. She was young looking, but actually was actually a little girl when the Revolutionary War started. So, I bet she's the perfect pick for American History. She's been threw it all!

Then we moved on to Ervings with science. He seemed like he was really smart, he said he was older than Ryan, about 2,000 years older, but he didn't want to be the head of the school. His gray hair proved how old he was, and his stories of the really, really, really old humans (he said we ancients call them Senex (for girls) Humanus and (for guys) Senis Humanus)(just so we don't have to use the term 'ancient' to describe really, really, really old humans) that were interesting and rather funny.

Finally, we went to Ryan's sister's class, Awakening 101. Sounds creepy enough. When we walked in, a beautiful red-haired, that green-color-eyes that Ryan and I have, but again, looks better on her than me woman looked at us. "Oh, Jude, Elliot, and...let me guess, Tylor? Right, its nice to see you all," she said in a very beautiful voice. "Tylor, I'm Annice Porter."

"Nice to meet you, Miss. Porter," I said.

"Actually, soon its going to Mrs. Randolf soon," she said proudly showing me her engagement ring.

"I thought it was against the rules for us ancients to have relations higher than friendship with our guardians," Elliot said.

"It _is _part of the rules," Jude said. "For _all _ancients."

"Yeah, yeah," Miss. Porter-soon-to-be-Mrs. Randolf said, "Whatever."

"Guardian? What's a....guardian?" I asked positively and utterly confused and lost.

"Oh, right, you're new to the whole ancient thing," Miss. Porter said, "Well....every awakening ancient is given a guardian angel....like, for Jude, his is Yalonda, she's pretty good with her job, and Elliot has Remon, who is also pretty good at his job. Each awakening ancient is given a specific guardian since the awakening stages are really powerful and make the young ancients really venerable to all sorts of creatures to kill them...including humans. And there's certain rules that the ancient and guardian have to follow. My guardian and I broke one together....he didn't want to return back to Aura, his home, to say."

"Rules?"

"Right....the first rule, the one me and my guardian broke, is not to have more than a friendship with your guardian, second, you should not have a relationship more than friendship with other ancient's guardians, third, guardians are to remain pure as from when they came down to protect to when the ancient is fully awakened, four, the guardian may leave the ancient's side by request, and five, you can't get a different guardian."

"Interesting...."

She nodded. "I wonder where Cody went off to...oh, have you received your guardian yet, Tylor?"

"No," I shook my head, "At least....I don't THINK I have...."

"You will soon, child. I hope."

I nodded. Jude smiled, "We better be on our way. See ya, Annice." The three of us went out of her class room and we went back to my dorm.

"Thank you for the tour," I said. "That was fun....except for your brother, Jude. Your brother scares me."

"He scares everyone."

"Oh..." When we got to my dorm, I opened the door and heard someone jumping on a bed. I blinked at the sound. "What the hell?" I mumbled and walked towards the bedroom and opened the door. A tall, maroon-haired, very beautiful woman in all white was jumping on my bed, then jumped to Ericka's and then to Dia's. "Who the hell are you?" I said a little bit louder than expected. Elliot and Jude came up behind me when the lady stopped and looked at me. Her beautiful brown eyes seemed to happy and carefree.

She was as beautiful as the angels described at the church my family and the step-family went to. (I was just pulled along) If not prettier.

End of Chapter


	4. Chapter 4

**Flight**

Chapter 4: Fear

-- ~ ~ --

I stared at the beautiful creature in front of me. She smiled a breath taking smile at me. "Hello," she said in the most beautiful voice I've ever heard, "You must be Tylor."

I nodded slowly still gawking at her.

"Hi, I'm Marylin, your guardian. Its nice to meet you."

"You just came back to this world so you can be with his brother, huh, Marylin?" Elliot laughed.

"Why would you say that, Elliot? I would—Ok, yeah, I did. But he's just so irresistible." She smiled like a young girl at a Jesse McCartney (ew) concert.

"He scares me," I blurted. I covered my mouth quickly.

Marylin grinned ear to ear. "I know! That's why I like him so much! He'll be so protective as a father! Wouldn't have to do a thing!"

"And you hate being a guardian, and he's the farthest thing from a saint you could find besides a drunkard," Jude said boredly.

"Shush! Ok, Elliot, Jude, you two scram....I've got to learn about Tylor, alright? Shoo, shoo!" She fluttered her hands and the two boys left.

"See ya, Ty-Ty," Elliot said before he left.

"Bye, Tylor," Jude said in his flawless voice and then shut the dorm door. I turned back to the beautiful, angelic Marylin.

"So your name's Tylor Trafford....that's a beautiful, tomboy-ish name."

"Uh....yes....thanks for the complement and not calling me Tylor Panni."

"Panni? What the hell kind of name is Panni?"

"My stepfather's last name...I don't really like him."

"Yeah? Well, you won't have to worry about him at Flight, I bet."

"Yeah...hopefully." I looked around. "Uhm....do you mind if I go for a walk? Everything that's happened today has made me feel a little--"

"Uneasy? Too much at once? Yeah, that's normal." She glanced toward the window and got up. She looked behind the drapes. "Its against the rules to let awakening ones out when its this dark out."

"Why?" I got up to look. "I've walked around at night before by myself. I'll be fine. You could go see Leyton."

Her coffee brown eyes glistened with joy. "Alright! Stay on school grounds though!" She skipped off. I smirked. So simple to get her to go away. I opened the window and jumped out (I jumped out of high windows before when I tried to run away from my mom and Roger) into the darkness of the night. When I landed on the cold, deserted ground I looked around. Why would we not be aloud out at night?

I stepped away from the school and looked at all the twinkling lights of Orange County's city. It was so nice to see them from the other side of the gates. I walked around the grounds and after a while, I felt some cold chill run up and down my spin. I turned really fast. My eyes searched the darkened space around me for anything in vain. I couldn't see. I felt eyes watching me, like someone was fallowing me. I laughed nervously. _Maybe I'm just imagining things. The busy city's on the other side of the building over there....so I don't need to worry._ I thought.

I turned back around and walked quickly in the direction I was going. I could hear my heart beating loudly in my chest and it seemed like all my senses were turned all the way up. I heard wings flap in the cold, desert night sky and I didn't think about, I just kept walking. I stopped when something caught my eye. I walked over to a small bench. My hand went along the arm of it. Little diamonds glistened. I smiled as my fingers went over them. I heard someone—or something—stop in their tracks behind me.

I turned still smiling towards where I heard the footsteps and quickly gasped in terror.

An enormous raven....thing stood before me. It had feathers as dark as the night, and its too human eyes stared at me with....I think hunger. Its long, hideous arms reached out for me. I felt cold. As cold as Michigan (I've been there since my Aunt Ilene lives up there) snow. I stared at its long, sharp nails—or should I call them talons? A scream wanted to force its way out of my throat, but a lump in my throat made me silent. Suddenly, two more fluttered to the ground behind the first one. What are these things?

My eyes looked from one raven-bird-thing to another. When the lump in my throat vanished somehow and I was about to scream, the first one raised its hand (seriously, its hand) and swiped at me and when I turned and put my arm up to block me, I felt a piercing pain threw my upper arm, all the way down to my wrist. I smelt blood as a horrible pain pierced threw my whole arm. A lot of blood. I heard a sound like falling metal and rubber hit the wet ground and then a bird scratch far away. My vision was getting blurry and slowly darkening.

I looked up and saw the bird-things flying away quickly and a giant dog....no....that's not a dog. Its....its a wolf. A black and green wolf. Well, only some of its fur on its head was colored green. And Ryan was there, too. He seemed to be talking to me, then turn and curse at something. I saw the wolf thing turn to me and look at me with familiar green eyes and start to change to a human figure. That was the last thing I saw before total darkness.

-- --

"Well, she's a trouble maker, huh, Ryan?" a laughing voice said. "First rams into a truck head on, then gets attacked by Raven Mockers. What an interesting girl."

"That's not funny, Ericka," a more serious voice said, "And stop making that face. Now's not the time to laugh." The voice cracked up a bit. "Stop it!"

"Did that damned creature hurt her, Ryan?" a beautiful and familiar voice said in a concerned, over-protective tone."

"Yes, but not as much as it wanted to," a calm, father-like voice said.

The beautiful and protective voice growled like an animal. I heard something shatter. "I'm going to find that thing and rip its heart out and.....and....and....!!"

"Calm down, Jude," a gentle, angelic voice said, "We don't need graphics. Besides, I'LL kill that thing, ok? Its my duty."

I was drifting again....and I had a memory of the past. Of my father. Of Travis.

--*--

_"Tylor Val Trafford," Travis's laughing voice said to me. I thought he was angry at me. My mom only called me by my whole name when I made her angry. Travis picked the three year-old me up and poked my little stubby nose. "Who's my baby girl?"_

_I giggled, but inside I was nervous since I still thought I did something. "I am," I said in a squeaky, child-ish voice._

_"Yep! Who's my little witch?"_

_"I am!" I giggled more. I guess I didn't make him cross._

_The memory changed then. Travis's pretty scary, soul-digging, ice blue eyes turned into Ryan's beautiful green ones and Travis's messy, light blonde hair turned into Ryan's flowing, but still messy-ish, red hair. After a while, Travis looked exactly like Ryan. I stared at him._

_"Daddy....?" I whispered._

_"Its ok, daughter," Ryan's voice said. Travis totally transformed into Ryan. What the flipping hamburger snapple! He put his forehead on my tiny one and brushed his nose with mine. "You're in the right arms."_

_I giggled and I felt my small, chubby cheeks turn a little pink and my short ponytails bob on my head. I reached for his cheeks and he let me touch them. He laughed as my little, tiny fingers tickled his cheeks._

I then snapped awake. In my new bed in the dorm room. Lydia was sitting in Ericka's lap and Ericka was holding Lydia. Jude was pacing in the space at the end of the bed, and Ryan had his eyes shut and he looked stressed. No one realized I was awake. I noticed an unopened,_ lonely _Coke can on one of the nightstands near my bed, and I glanced around at everyone. Ericka was busy whispering comforting words to Lydia, and Lydia was busy listening. Ryan hadn't opened his eyes yet, and Jude just stopped to look out the window. I turned slowly and quietly and grabbed it, the can was still cold, that's good, and slowly brought it to my chest.

I glanced around when my free hand slowly went to the tab. Still no one noticed me. I grabbed the cold tab and slowly opened it. It made a loud HISSSSSS sound when I pulled on the tab making everyone jump a bit. "Oops," I muttered. Ericka pretty much threw Dia aside and lunged at me.

"YOUR AWAKE! WELCOME BACK TO REALITY!" she giggled. I made a hurt sound when her bony hands hit my bare shoulder. For some reason, it felt like it burned.

Ryan looked at me and then looked to the nightstand the Coke wasn't on then back to me. He picked up one of my bracelets. "These fell off when you got attacked," he said. "You have interesting wounds, Tylor...." One of my hands went to my occupied wrist. Ok, unoccupied. No wonder my wrist felt lighter. "Some of your scars were infected, you know.....but I'm not here to pester you about wearing band-aids or putting on neosporin..." I took off the Coke's tab and took a sip from it. The cool soda rushed down my dry throat.

"Do you feel alright, Tylor?" Jude asked coming to my bed side. "Any nausea...or....or.....hurting...or--"

"Jude, dude, take a chill pill.....and that rhymed," Ericka said smiling. "Go me. Anyway, people don't get sick from a Raven Mocker attack."

"Chill? Ok, I'll tell you to chill when either Ryan or Michael gets attacked by a Raven Mocker and you're freaking out!" Jude hissed.

"Meanie-butt-head-poo-person."

"Jude, son, calm down," Ryan said putting his hand on Jude's shoulder.

"I feel fine, Jude," I said taking another sip of Coke. Then what he said hit me. _Raven Mocker._ "Wait....what's a Raven Mocker? That big, huge, ugly, funky, creepy, almost-as-creepy-as-your-brother, bird-raven-human-person-thing with the funky claw-talon-nails?"

"Yes, Tylor," Ryan looked back to me. "When Jude and I got to you, the Raven Mocker already tried to kill you....hence the scars on your right arm." I glanced at my right arm, the one that didn't have my Coke, and saw 4 huge, deep scars in my arm. I stopped breathing. "I'm sorry....we were too slow...tracking you down was really hard. Your scent mixed with others' scents, Jude says, and I couldn't concentrate enough to find your individual thoughts."

"Next time I see one of those things, I'll bite a huge chunk out of it," Jude grumbled. My fingers went along the red, now throbbing, deep scars. I heard Jude shift. He was probably looking at me. "Those will take a long time to heal."

"How long?" I asked still taken by the wounds.

"As long as six months at most." I looked up to him and our eyes locked. His beautiful but pained green eyes stared into my curious, innocent, funky green eyes.

"Oh, like when I broke my leg when playing soccer. Alright."

Marylin came into the room. "She's awake?" Leyton fallowed her, holding her hand. Marylin looked so concerned. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ryan. Jude. Ericka. Lydia. And especially sorry for you, Tylor, dear. I shouldn't have let you go by yourself. This is all my fault."

"Its my fault for having the idea," I blurted. "Don't beat yourself up. All my wounds are my fault alone. Self-inflicted or not."

"But I'm your guardian. Going to see Leyton isn't a good reason to leave you alone to defend for yourself. Especially one so young in awakening."

"I'm fine! Seriously.....I've protected myself and my two younger siblings and Roger's children for 5 years now. When it was myself and my two younger sibling, its been....13 years now. You don't need to guard me." My free hand went limp in the air as I explained. Marylin's beautiful forehead wrinkled and she looked at Leyton's scary face. He looked even scarier next to her. Like he was a demon or something.

"You sure? Its my duty," Marylin said looking back to me. I nodded with a smile.

"Besides, I'll get hurt no matter what. I fall walking across a clean, smooth, dance-studio floor. I did when I was 5 and my mom wanted me to be a talented dancer like Alexia.....that dream died quick."

"....alright.....but I'll still check up on you, just in case." I smiled and nodded, but inside I cursed that. I hated being watched after. Made me feel like a little kid.

"What were you doing outside anyway, Tylor? Didn't Marylin tell you awakening ones aren't supposed to be outside when its dark?" Leyton asked leaning on the wall near the door. He pulled Marylin to him.

"Yeah, she did, but I like taking walks at night. The cool night air feels good, I think....and I wanted to explore the school grounds a bit. I didn't know why we weren't.....I guess I'd be stupid not to now." I gestured to the loud wound decorating my arm.

"Very," Ericka said pulling Dia to her again.

"Yeah...I never heard of Raven—Oh, yes I have. My Native American friend, Adahy, told me about them last year....a week before he got into that car crash." That car crash wasn't my fault.

"They are of Native American legend," Ryan said getting up. "They are here preying on awakening ones since you all are the weakest creatures and humans aren't that much fun to hunt here when there's an ancient to prey on. Even Jude was at risk when he and I went out. I can only hold off a number of those blasted things."

"I'm sorry to cause you any trouble, Ryan," I whispered looking down at the covers. "I didn't mean to." I sounded like when I almost killed myself when I was 4 and my mom was freaking out.

Ryan took a big breath and let out a gust. "Its alright. No need to say sorry." I looked down at my now neglected stolen Coke solemnly. Jude looked to Ryan then back to me.

"Uh....if it'll help any--"

"Jude, don't get her heart beating too fast. The scars could start bleeding again. And with Ericka here, I'm not sure if that's the best thing."

Ericka made an offended sound. "I hate this morning! I fed off of Ryan. He liked it."

"Ugh," Jude gagged. He looked at Ryan. "Is it alright if I ask, though?"

"When I'm done dressing the wound." Ryan turned to the nightstand. I looked then. A bottle of alcohol and bandages and some cotton balls sat on the small table. Ryan grabbed one cotton ball and put some alcohol on it. "This'll sting, Tylor, but its helping so it doesn't get infected." He dabbed on the wounds and I winced as it stung.

* * *

After a few hours of dabbing and wincing and wrapping, my arm was a mummy's arm. And I could barely feel it attached to the rest of my body. Jude, the whole time, seemed distant, flinching as I winced. Did he feel what I feel? Did all ancients do that?

"Ok, Jude," Ryan said smiling at his work, "You can ask now." I looked at both of them curiously. Ask me what?

Jude took a deep breath and for a second looked like a cute, scared little school boy. Just sexier. No pedo. "Uhm....Tylor? Would you like to go on a date with me? I mean, not like a date-date, I mean...like a guy-friend-girl-friend-date—Did I say girlfriend? I meant...you know.....a girl....that's a friend," his tan cheeks turned more and more red as he stumbled more over his words. "I mean, like....well....you know. Would you like to?"

"Sure, Jude," I said smiling widely. Inside I was giggling my head off at him. It was so cute. Jude smiled.

"Alright....I could come by your dorm to get you at 7-ish tomorrow," he said fidgeting with his coat sleeves, "Is that good?"

"Sure." He smiled a cheeky smile. I couldn't smile but smile. He looked so cute.

Ericka got up then and started to flutter her hands at everyone else besides Dia and me. "Ok, you all, go now. Shoo, shoo. Roommate time!" Everyone rolled their eyes and left. Dia got up and locked the dorm door. Ericka and her looked at me and smirked. "Alright, Dia, you get on your bed, I got mine. You ready to tell secrets, Tylor?" I stared at her. I blinked once. "Ok, we're ready!" She clasped her hands together.

I gulped. Ericka scares me now.

End of Chapter


	5. Chapter 5

**Flight**

Chapter 5: Power

~ --◦-- ~

Ericka took a flashlight out from one of her nightstands at inhuman speed and turned it on. She put it light up to her chin making her tan face illuminate in a creepy fashion. "Now we get to tell our deepest, darkest, most secretive secrets," she almost hissed into the air to add the creepiness.

"Uh.....who goes...first?" I asked sorta freaked.

Ericka chewed on the inside of her cheek before said with a smirk, "Dia."

"Wh-what?" Dia asked chocking on some air. "You kidding, right?"

"Nope. Spill 'em, Hop-a-Long!"

"I'm not a hop-a-long...."

"HOP-A-LONG!"

Dia took in a deep breath. "Ok....when I was 10 years old....I went to Las Vegas with my sister....and I got married to a stranger I meet in a bar, apparently. Cause I woke up next to him the next day with a ring on my finger....it was weird."

"Seriously?" I asked. "I went to Las Vegas with my sister to _see _a wedding when I was 10, but never _for _me to get married."

"Seriously. My sister is that mean."

"Oh...."

"Your turn, Ericka."

"Ok," Ericka said in a funky voice. It was almost funny. She took in a deep breath and said, "My grandpa tried to rape me." My eyes widened when she said that. "And I killed him. Accidentally, of course, I mean....I didn't _know _I was a vampire-hybrid-ancient then, so I just thought I could push him and it won't do much....but....yeah....that grandpa was my dad's dad, and my dad still doesn't know."

"Oh," I mumbled.

Ericka's dark brown eyes flickered to me. "Now you're turn, Tylor...and remember," she poked her head, "We'll know if you're lying."

I gulped and thought about it. "Uh......I guess....these are my only really dark secret," I said lifting up my wrists to show all the cuts. "Oh, and this." I lifted up my shirt and showed them the huge gash in my side.

"How'd you do** that**?" Dia asked her mocha-caffachino brown eyes widening and wincing all at the same time.

"I found the blades to the lawn mower when I was really depressed."

"Ow," Ericka and Dia winced too.

"Yeah....its nothing, though." I put my shirt back down. I then realized I wasn't in my Nightmare Before Christmas dress anymore. I was in a black tanktop and green shorts.

"Marylin, Ericka, and I changed you while Ryan, Professor Porter, got his tools to help treat your wounds. He was praying to goddess to help with your recovery when you awoke," Dia said as she read my thoughts.

"He was in my dream," I whispered. "Ryan..."

"Ryan?" Ericka asked. "Not my Ryan, but Professor Ryan?"

"Yeah....I don't know your Ryan."

"What happened?"

I looked down at the colorful sheets. "Well, at first it was Travis, my dad, holding me when I was three, just probably a month before he left our family, and he was laughing and playing with me...then he started to change into Ryan. At first I was afraid, but he told me not to be afraid. He said that it was alright. And I felt....safer in his hands than with Travis. It was...weird."

"Hmm," Dia mumbled. Ericka looked at her.

"I'll get the book," she said and got up quickly and almost ran into a bookshelf that sat next to the far wall. She scanned the book spins till she found the one she was looking for, grabbed it, and jumped back onto her bed. She looked up at me and smiled devilishly. "We're not supposed to do that." I giggled a bit. She sat criss-cross on her bed and flipped through the book. "Let's see....full blooded ancient, full blooded, full blooded, full blooded.....AH! Here it is." She set the book down on so that I could see it.

Dia shut her eyes and started to say, word for word from the book, "Full-blooded ancients, also known as ancient-ancients to awakening-ancients, are assisted with many characteristics hybrid-ancients do not attain. Full-blooded male ancients have the ability to have human females to bare their young without even contact with the human female. This is very rare and usually doesn't happen, seeing as humans are looked down upon in ancient-society. But it does happen every now and then. It happens by..."

"That's all I needed, Dia," Ericka said slamming the book shut.

"Hey, there was a hot guy on there!" Dia whined.

"So what? There's more hot guys in real life, ok?" Ericka turned to me then. "Tylor...that 'dream' you had....it could possibly be telling you something. A vision of some sort, if you will. I have those all the time....like when I was six, I had something almost exactly like that one...its how I figured out I was adopted and this guy that I'm arranged to marry, who is my father, Laurence, didn't want me to remember who I really was. The rest of my biological-family is dead, except for my younger brother, Calvin, but he's gay, so....yeah."

"A vision? But....my mom only meet Ryan yesterday...and that couldn't be possible. I mean, she would've known I wasn't Travis's child, right? I mean..."

"Do you have siblings, Tylor?" Dia asked.

"Yeah....3. Two sisters, one brother."

"Do you look anything like them?"

"Well...somewhat. I got most of my mother's features. But all three of my siblings have blonde hair.....and no one else has these freaky green eyes...."

"And Ryan has those eyes...so, yeah.....and the book said ancient-ancients can do funky stuff like get a human lady pregnant without knowing them. If they want a child, of course."

"...so...that means Tylor is an ancient-ancient?" Dia asked her eyes as big as saucers.

"I couldn't...I mean.....Ryan couldn't be my.....there's no way...I mean....." I stared at my sheets. "That can't be right."

"It probably is right," Ericka said. "But we won't poke at it. Ryan might not know, either."

"Might," Dia sighed.

"_Might. _Very small might."

"Ryan knows everything."

"_Everything._"

"Almost."

"Almost?"

"Remember? He didn't know....no, wait, he did know. Damn. He probably does know."

I stared at the two. Dia smiled. "Time for bed!" she giggled standing up. "G'night, Tylor!" she said giving me a hug. She went over to Ericka and _kissed _Ericka on the lips. I stared weirdly.

Ericka smiled at me and held Dia in place by her arms. "Dia and I are a couple, Ty-Ty. Don't worry. We wont' do anything to you. I'm truthful to my girlfriend and boyfriend. Boyfriends." She caressed Dia's cheek then and let her go. Dia turned off the lights and hopped into her bed. I nodded and layed down, staring at the beautiful ceiling.

I shut my eyes as sleep caught up with me. My mind started to drift to a dream.

--◦--

_"Ha ha!" I laughed. Its been a long time since I've laughed like that. I raced down the tan sand covered beach, the bright sun setting into the horizon, the now orange looking waves caressing my feet, and occasionally my ankles. I looked back still laughing loudly. I stopped. "Where'd he...?" I asked still laughing, two strong, warm, protective arms wrapping around my waist and lifting me into the air cutting off my sentience._

_"Got you," Jude's voice chuckled. I looked up and his green eyes, filled with joy and happiness and love, glistened down at me._

_DING-A-LING-A-LING-A-LING....BOOP-BOOP-BA-DOOP-A-DOOP...DING-A-LING-A-LING-A-LING..._

_A cell phone was going off. I ignored it as I twirled around in Jude's arms. He was in purple and green trunks. I glanced at myself. I had a halter top, belly showing white top and white bottoms. I smiled up at him and kissed him._

_Ericka appeared in his place and put my phone in my face. "Yo, answer your phone!" she hissed._

--◦--

"Ty-Ty, your phone," Dia said yawning. She handed me the cold phone. I looked at it. Evna.

"Do you know what time it is, Evna?" I groaned answering it.

Evna cried into the phone, "Yeah, but....you said you would call me and I got worried and...and..."

"Calm down, Pooh Bear, there's nothing to worry about...ok? Now....I'll call you in the morning...I'm tired. Its been a long day for me."

"No! When you say there's nothing to worry about, it means you almost got killed! You said that when you broke your legs! Both of them! And....and...when you fell out that window! And when you had that accident with the lawn mower! And....and....and...."

"Ok, ok.....I get it...but this time its alright, Evna....now, go to sleep...."

"B-but.....Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty....you promised you'd tell me if there's any hot guys there and about your new friends and..."

"There's hot guys, I've made some new friends, so on and so forth. I'll put more detail into it in the morning, Evna. Good night." I shut my phone off then and went back to the sleep realm.

--◦--

_What is this? I stood in darkness. Not like normal, night darkness. No, not that. More like pitch black, I-can't-see-my-hand-in-front-of-my-face dark. No light anywhere. I ran, tripping over objects I couldn't see. I heard something huge flap down in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to try to see. When I removed my hands from my face, there was bright light around me. Along with a lot of Raven Mockers. I gasped and looked around me for a way out._

_They all stared at me with hunger. I let out a shill of terror. It seemed to summon someone, cause my hands seemed to land on someone's shoulder. I looked up and saw Ryan. He was glaring at the Raven Mockers. "Its ok, daughter," he said. He put his arm around me protectively. "I'll protect you no matter what."_

_I looked up at him wearily. He looked down and smiled at me. He released me. Then I woke up._

--◦--

I woke up before either Ericka or Dia did. I got up and went to the bathroom. It was HUGE! Marble counter tops glistened in the beautiful, calm Californian morning sunlight. The shower was so big, it looked like you could put a VW-bus in there. It had a golden shower head, and beautiful crystal sliding glass doors that went all the way to the floor. I took off my clothes quickly and got into the shower. I messed with the knobs until the shower head came to life and sprayed me with relaxing, warm water. I stretched my neck as the water tickled my skin. This shower was better than the one back home.

When I got out I quickly found a towel with the letters 'F' and 'A' stitched on it. I quickly dried off and got dressed. Today I wore more white than usual to try to be in uniform. When I walked out, Ericka was up....and Jude was in our dorm, talking to her in the living room section quietly. When Jude looked in my direction, he smiled as he looked at me from my feet up to my rosy-cheeked face.

"Hey, Tylor," he said smiling widely. "How did you sleep?"

"Before my little sister called me, pretty well, but then I had a nightmare," I said sheepishly.

Jude got up looking concerned. "You ok?"

"Yeah...Its just a dream..."

He looked at Ericka then to me. "Tylor, here...nightmares usually come true for people. What happened in it?"

"Well....it was very dark. I mean, I couldn't see anything. I started to run around, trying to find out where I was. I heard something, and I shut my eyes for an instant....then I saw a bunch of Raven Mockers surrounding me. I was so scared....then....Ryan came out of no where and told me not to be afraid....then I woke up."

"...ok, its not that bad...and since your at this level of awakening, I guess your nightmare won't come true." He looked at my wet hair and brushed some back behind my ear. "You look nice today."

"Thanks."

Ericka giggled. "Look at the love birds," she giggled.

"Shut up, Ericka," Jude growled. I heard Dia get up in the other room and shuffle into the main room. She yawned as she scratched her eye.

"Goo' mo'nin," she mumbled. She sat down next to Ericka in the big, beautiful couch and lied down across Ericka's lap. "M ti'ed."

"Get up, Dia," Ericka said bouncing up and down to wake Dia up.

"Stop bouncing, you....raccoon," Dia groaned.

"Raccoon?! RACCOON?! I'LL TEACH YOU TO CALL ME RACCOON!" I ignored the two and looked at Jude.

"Are you doing anything today...? Besides coming to get me later, I mean," I asked him.

He looked at me and shrugged. "I've got to run with the pack again. Make sure there's no Raven Mockers or anything that'll hurt anyone here."

I looked at my arm then to him. "Oh...ok..."

"What about you?"

"Nothing that I know of."

He looked away then bit his lip. "Ok...uh....I could take you somewhere for breakfast, if you'd like."

"I HEARD BREAKFAST!" Dia said sitting up quickly. I had to use a lot of my strength to hold back my laughter.

"ME TOO!" Ericka shouted.

"Not for you two," Jude sighed. "Michael or Ice can take you, Ericka, and Reid can take you, Dia."

"We'll pay for our own meals," Ericka said putting her hands together. She was pleading now, and it was hilarious.

"Actually, she'll pay for my meal cause she still owes me money," Dia said jerking her head towards Ericka.

"....I'm not driving you two," Jude said. He looked at me.

"I'll go with you," I said smiling. I then heard my cell phone go off. Evna's name popped in my head. "Oh! That must be Evna...I'm sorry....excuse me." I slipped into the bedroom and snatched my phone off the nightstand I put it last night and answered it. "I'm so so so so sorry I forgot to call you, Evna."

"Its ok, Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty," Evna's joyful voice said into my ear, "Guess what time it is! 9:30! And guess what day it is! Sunday! You know what that means?"

"You guys are going to Denny's after church right now?"

"Yeah! And momma's wondering if you...I donno....wanna join us? I miss you, Ty-Ty. Please come! Momma and Dad said you can have that funky pancake thing you made up! What was it? Blueberry, chocolate chip, walnut, banana, buttermilk smiley face pancake, right?"

"Uh....Evna....I would, but....I already planned to have breakfast with some people I meet here."

I heard my mom say some stuff in the background to Evna. "Momma wanna know who they are."

"My two roommates, Ericka Finch and Lydia Lilith, and Jude. That guy with Mr. Porter from yesterday."

"Oooooh....ok..." I heard my mom say something else. "Momma says they can come with you....just they have to bring their own money. Dad added that part."

"I could ask them..." I got up and creaked open the bedroom door. "Uh.....my little sister wants to know if you guys would like to go have breakfast with my family instead of going by ourselves. She's tempted me with pancakes."

"Where?" Jude asked.

"Denny's. She said Roger said to bring you guys's own money, though."

"Sure!" Ericka said smiling widely.

"Oh, you have a little sister? Tell her I say hi!"

"Alright." I put the phone back to my ear, "Evna? They're alright with it. Oh, and Dia says hi."

"COOL!" I heard Evna tell the rest of my family and step-family, "Alright! See ya! Oh, and we've got a surprise for you! See ya!" The phone clicked off."

"Your sister sounds fun," Dia says. "Her name's Evna?"

"Yeah."

"How many siblings do you have again?"

"3 related, 2 step-siblings. The three related are Evna, Author, and Alexia, the step-siblings are Dolly and Bobby. Roger's deceased wife liked names that ended in 'y', apparently."

"Cool. Your family sounds cool. My momma beat me."

"Yo mom's a crack head, rei-rei," Ericka said grabbing Dia's hand and walking past me to the bedroom. "We've got to get dressed, ok, crack head?"

I looked at Jude, "You ok with this?"

"Of course," he said smiling humorously, "Your family and Roger's family was fun last time we ate together. Especially Evna...with her thoughts. I never knew she was so observant."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in her head she was singing that teasing little song--"

"OK! LET'S GO!" Ericka shouted walking out of the bedroom fully dressed. She was wearing a loud dress. The top was purple, and the skirt-part was rainbow. Her boots—well, her pretty high, bright green high-tops added to the loudness. Dia came out behind her, trying to pull on her tennis shoe that looked older than just 2 or 3 years. Probably 7.

Both of the tennis shoes were torn up, rag-like, and almost—if not already—at breaking point. She had old looking pants that were ripped up—and it didn't look like it was bought that way by the dry blood stains and paint stains and food stains. Her shirt was simple, a golden-yellow shirt with a muffin on it. The muffin had a little talk-bubble like in comic strips that said, 'Ah Munna Eat CHOOO!'

I glanced at my own clothes, Skelanimals Diego Bat pants, Nightmare Before Christmas baseball-tee, and my knee high high-tops. I looked back at Dia. I felt so bad for her. She looked so poor. Like she was fresh from the ghetto or something.

I looked at Jude's clothing for an instant. Even though he was a guy, and guys usually dress sloppy, he looked a lot better than Dia. Not looking ghetto, I mean. I felt so bad for Dia.

"OK! Let's go ask Professor Daddy Ryan if we could drive his car," Ericka said smiling widely.

"Daddy Ryan?" Jude asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Don't ask. It ain't your business."

"Can we ask Ryan if we could drive his car?" I asked.

"Yeah, everyone does it," Dia said smiling at me, "Well, when they need to ask."

"Alright."

Jude led the way out of our dorm and down to Ryan's room. I glanced at the beautiful office room. It had big, elaborate pictures from all eras. Paintings depicting wars, deaths, marriages, balls, and many other things. My eyes landed on a pentagram above Ryan's big, red-purple chair. I smiled and looked at his desk. It was mahogany wood and very shiny and well kept. Ryan was reading the newspaper really quietly. I barely realized he was there.

"Good morning, Ericka, Dia, Jude...ah, Tylor. Good morning," he said looking up from the paper. I smiled at him slightly then noticed he wasn't reading the paper. Well, the news in the paper. He was reading the comics. "How did you sleep, dear?" he asked me.

"I slept alright, sir, thank you," I said smiling more.

"Alright....what do you three trouble makers want?" Ryan asked looking from Jude to Ericka and Dia. He pointed at Ericka and Dia. "I hope you two don't want to throw some party again."

"No," Ericka said making an innocent face. "Why would _I _want to throw a party again? But, anyway, can we borrow your car? We're going to eat breakfast with Tylor's family."

"And step-family," I added.

"Yeah. So, can we? Jude's driving so you won't have to worry about Dia or I crashing it. I'm not sure how Tylor drives so, yeah."

Ryan looked at us sternly and took a deep breath. "Sure," he said smiling ripping one drawer on his desk open and tossing the keys to Jude.

"Thanks, sir," Jude said smiling. "We'll bring back some biscuit or something for you."

"Bagel."

"Bagel, biscuit, whatever."

"Get out of here, kid."

Jude laughed and went out of the office. Ericka, Dia and I fallowed him out. We walked slower than he did so we could talk about girl things.

I looked over to Dia and Ericka when I saw movement in my peripheral vision and I heard the two giggling. I saw Dia point to Jude, then squeeze the air, then push up the air with her palms up. I looked at the two puzzled. Ericka whispered to me, "Toned and firm."

"What?" I asked.

"Jude's booty. We're talking about men's booties. Cause men usually don't have good booties. Why do you think Dia and I are bi? Jude's got a nice booty though," she explained.

"It's toned and firm," Dia added squeezing the air with both hands when she said 'toned' and pushing the air up with her palms up when she said 'firm'. I laughed but still looked at them weirdly.

"Toned and firm?" I asked.

"Yeah, toned," Dia did the squeaking thing, "and firm," she did the pushing thing.

Jude looked back at us and asked, "What are you two putting in that poor girl's mind?"

Dia looked at him then looked at her hands and quickly put her hands behind her back, "Nothing, sexy man. I mean, Jude."

"Jude **is **sexy," Ericka said smirking.

"Yeah."

"Crack heads, stop talking about me," Jude said, "I can here you."

"Ok, TONED AND FIRM!" Ericka said doing the motions really fast and violently. She started to laugh at herself.

Jude just rolled his eyes and waited for us to catch up to him. Ericka and Dia stood next to him and I looked at them weirdly. "Tylor, stand over here." Jude reached out and grabbed my arm. I felt heat and happiness run threw my veins at hit touch. He pulled me to his side. He put his arm around my shoulder and twirled me to look at a wall. I tilted my head curiously. He started to speak in 'ancient' and the wall started to rumble apart. My eyes widened as I noticed beautiful and expensive vehicles come in sight. Jude led me threw the space in the wall, his arm still around my shoulders, and to Ryan's Charger.

Dia and Ericka slipped in back and Jude opened the passenger door for me. I slipped in and new car smell wafted into my nose. Jude slid into the drivers side seconds later and started the car up. The song _Hey Juliet _by LMNT came on.

I zoned out as the car started to move. I looked out the window. I looked up at the sky and then to the beach. When we reached Denny's, Evna was standing outside with Bobby and Author. Author stole her bag and Bobby, who was taller than Author, was holding it higher than Evna could jump. When Jude stopped the car he began to ask, "Isn't that your sis--"

"Yeah," I said and opened the door and got out quickly. "HEY! GIVE BACK HER BAG, YOU DORKS!" I shouted at them. Bobby and Author looked at me shocked. Bobby looked at the bag then to me.

"She has to learn how to get her things back, Tylor," he said smiling despite himself.

"Oh, hell no, you give back her bag this instant, or I will hurt you," I started to crack my knuckles. I slammed the car door and marched up to the three.

"Ty-Ty-Ty-Ty, they're being mean," Evna said.

"I said give it back, Bobby. I'm not messing around." Bobby rolled his eyes and threw the bag at me.

"You're such a party pooper, Tylor," he sighed.

"Yeah, Tylor," Author sighed.

"You guys want me to tell mom and your dad?" I asked. "Cause I know mom would let me pumble you, but I might need permission to do so to you, Bobby. Evna, you alright?"

"Yeah. I missed you, Ty-Ty." She hugged my waist.

Author and Bobby glared at her. I looked up at them. "You two were leaving."

"Were we?" Bobby asked. I looked down and noticed a small rock. I kicked the rock at Bobby as hard as I could. He dodged. "You don't scare me, Tylor."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"Your not scary, Trafford. You may scar Author, but you don't scare me."

"Evna, get back," I said as calmly as I could. She stepped back till she was at where the Charger was. I looked back to Bobby with a glare.

"Uh, Bobby," Author said nudging the other dork, "I wouldn't test Tylor. Especially when she gets like this."

"Author, you need to learn to discipline her. Like dad always said--"

Ericka inturupted him by coming up on the sidewalk out of no where. "HI," she said loudly and obnoxiously. "You should fear me."

"I don't know you, so no. I shouldn't. Women aren't scary."

"I made a guy's ball bleed when I was 5."

"So? I know karate."

"I know how to kick butt without any training, Bobby," I said. "Ericka, out of the way." Ericka looked at me weirdly and got off of the side walk. Bobby smirked.

"Ok, prove it, Trafford."

I rushed towards him, and in 5 seconds, I had him on the ground with both his arms bent behind his back. "Say uncle!" I shouted, putting my foot on his back.

"Ow! No!" Bobby shouted back. I grabbed both of his wrists in one hand and yanked his arms straighter.

"Say uncle."

"Oooooow! Uncle! Uncle!" I let go of him and removed my foot. He stumbled getting up and brushed himself off. He glared at me. "That's just cause I haven't had breakfast yet."

"I haven't had breakfast either, and I didn't sleep that well." Bobby moved back from me and ran inside. Author looked to where Bobby went then to me. I glared at him and he ran inside, too. I turned to Evna. "You ok, Evna?"

"Yeah, Ty-Ty-Ty...thanks," she said running up to me and hugging me. "Can you show me that trick? That was awesome!"

"Sure, Evna. OH, Evna, I have two people for you to meet."

"Who?" she turned and I looked up from Evna to see Dia, Ericka, and Jude walking up onto the sidewalk.

I pointed to Dia and Ericka, "These two are Ericka Finch and Lydia, or Dia, Lilith. My roommates."

"Hi!" Ericka said waving to Evna.

"Aw, you're so cute! Can I hug you?" Dia asked. Evna ran up to Dia and hugged her. Evna looked at Jude.

"I remember you!" she said pointing at him, "Jude!"

"Hey, Evna," he said. Evna ran up to him and hugged him. Ericka looked like she was about to cry.

"I don't get a hug?" she sniffed. Evna held a finger up to Ericka.

"Jude smells nice," Evna mumbled into Jude's clothing. Jude chuckled. Evna finally let go and ran up and hugged Ericka.

All four of us then went inside. "TY!" a familiar, but still unfamiliar, sober voice called to me. I looked and I was embraced into a warm chest that stunk of beer and cigarettes. I looked to the side the person's head was and my mouth was met with strands of shaggy, uncombed blonde hair going into it. Patrick.

"I thought you were in jail," I said smiling at him when he pulled away. The smile was fake, and I was actually in pain inside. I didn't want to see him.

"Roger bailed me out," Patrick said proudly. He looked at Ericka, Dia, and Jude. "Hey, Jude. Who are you two?" he said waving to Jude, and pointing to Ericka and Dia.

"I'm Ericka, and this is Lydia, Tylor's roommates, who are **you**, little boy, pointing at us?" Ericka said sounding tough.

"I'm Patrick, Ty's boyfriend."

I slapped my forehead, "Patrick, you **aren't **my boyfriend. We're just friends."

"For NOW. But I have a feeling we're be together by the end of the semester." I rolled my eyes.

"You stink," Ericka said in a sassy tone, "And you're ugly. I don't think Tylor would be your girlfriend at all."

"Oh, yeah? Well you look like a shark's barf," Patrick said his nose wrinkling.

"Oh, no you did not! Oh no you did not, li'l boy! You did NOT just say that to my face! Oh, no. You're in for it, you--"

"Ericka, Ericka, sweetie," Dia said, getting in in between Patrick and Ericka and putting her hands on Ericka's shoulders to hold her back, "Remember your blood pressure. And Professor Daddy- Ryan wouldn't want this, ok? Calm down. He just wanted to say something to counter what you said to him...it was the first thing to pop in his mind, Ericka....calm down....you're beautiful....you actually remind me of a seal pup, you know? Those cute little white, fluffy ones?"

Ericka stopped, but kept glaring at Patrick. "I'm watching you, boy. Don't get any ideas."

"Whatever, midget," Patrick sighed.

"This midget's foot is gonna be up your--"

"Ericka, stop it," I said sternly. Ericka stopped and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Dude...that was...like....Dia, wasn't that like....oh my goddess Nyx......dude....you must be," Ericka stuttered pointing at me, then making a map in the air.

"Ericka, shush," Dia said. Ericka nodded.

"So, uh, Tylor? Where your momma and family and step-family?" Ericka said smiling weakly and clapping her hands.

"This way," Evna said grabbing my hand and pulling me threw the crowds of people coming from their church sessions or whatever. Jude, Evna, and Dia fallowed easily, and Patrick had to hold my other hand to keep up. I barely noted it.

Evna stopped at a big table. Abby looked up from the menu. She smiled and got up and pulled me into a hug. "Hey, honey! How are you doing? How's Flight so far?"

"Oh, its great, mom. You should meet my English teacher, Mr. Carlton, he's awesome! And we get these awesome uniforms that we can mix-and-match with and Professor Porter is awesome and everything is so fun there! Oh, and these two are my roommates, Ericka Finch and Lydia Lilith," I said talking very fast. I turned and put my arm around both Ericka and Dia's shoulders.

"That's great honey. And its nice to meet you, Ericka...and Lydia, wasn't it?"

"You can call me Dia," Lydia said. "I hate being called Lydia. Sounds too formal for me." Dia stuck her tongue out.

"You're awfully pretty, Miss. Ericka," Author the Super-Dork said smiling stupidly.

"Uh....thanks?" Ericka said smiling weirdly. She leaned over to me and whispered, "Your brother scares me."

"He scares everyone of my friends," I whispered back.

"I can hear you," Super-dork said glaring at me.

"And you're still a dork." I sat down swiftly. Jude sat down beside me, and Patrick sat down next to me on the other side. Ericka and Dia sat across from us. Ericka sat across from Patrick, and next to Author, and Dia sat next to her.

"Hello, Tylor," Roger said to me. I nodded.

"Hello, Roger," I replied placing the napkin into my lap.

"You seem well," he said nodding at me. He looked at Jude, "Hello, Jude."

"Hi, Father Panni," Jude replied.

"Is Dr. Porter doing well?"

"Yes. Professor Ryan enjoys having your stepdaughter at the school. He told me to tell you he promises to treat Tylor like a daughter himself."

"Oh, that's sweet of him," Abby said smiling.

I looked at Jude. I wondered if that was a message to me, really, from Ryan...saying to me he knew he was my real dad. I looked to Ericka and Dia to see them pretending to fight. Ericka picked up her fork and Dia picked up her knife and they started to pretend like they were in a sword fight. I had to hold back my laughter. "So....uhm.....Jude? Are you and Tylor dating?" Evna asked suddenly. She was looking at us with the biggest grin ever.

"Evna," I said making a face.

"I know you like him, Ty-Ty," she said smiling devilishly. She then wiggled her eyebrows.

"Evna. That's not funny," I whispered in a harsh voice.

"Uh...not at the moment, Evna," Jude said scratching the back of his head. Patrick looked at me concerned.

"Tylor," he whispered. I stepped on his foot.

"Don't! Get started," I said looking back at Ericka and Dia. Ericka went into a fit of laughter. Wither it was something Dia did or she did, or that she heard me step on Patrick's foot, I'm not sure.

Jude glared at Ericka. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Ericka," he whispered in a very low voice.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Jude and Tylor. In a tree. A-kissin'. And a-smoochin'. And a-lovin'. And a-makin' out. And a-sexin'. I mean, a-lovin' more. And a-huggin'. And a-chasin' eachother. And a-lovin' more. And a--"

"Take your money," Dia said randomly. Ericka looked at her and shook her head.

"No, Jude and Tylor aren't pot-crack heads. That song is for pot-crack heads."

".....it is? I thought it was just gangsters."

"Dude, they say 'I get high like planes'."

"Oh....oh, yeah, they do. That's right. I forgot. Isn't there a gangster love song?"

"What the crap, Dia? Why do you come up with the strangest things? Gangsters don't have love, they have guns. And knives. And bloodshed. And chains. And deaths. And so on and so forth," Ericka explained slowly. "I mean, seriously, you should know that, you grew up with a mom **in **a gang."

"Oh...she could have—Oh, wait. No. No she couldn't, sorry."

"Yeah. So there. Boo-yeah. Your mom. So, yeah. There. Beat that. You can't. Cause I'm awesome."

"Are you two always like that?" Evna giggled.

"Yes. We are," Ericka said smiling. "Except her. She goes epic emo. Sometimes. Now and then."

"You two act like twins!"

"Well, you sorta act like twins when you've been together as long as Ericka and I've been together," Dia said smiling.

"Together? Oh, you two are going out?"

"Sorta-kinda," Ericka said shrugging. "Like, I have a couple boys I date, I just can't settle down with one person yet, and she has a boyfriend—oh, slash that—lover."

"He's not my lover," Dia whined.

"Yuki is so close to being your lover its not funny, so he's your lover."

"That's not fair."

"Dude. It is. Cause you two are. Like, seriously. Oh my lord. I'll slap you. If you two don't, like, become lovers....I'll shoot you. In the foot. Oh. Ownage."

"He and I are just boyfriend-girlfriend."

"Lovers."

"You shut up."

"I said 'no!'."

"This isn't funny anymore."

"Yes it is. Cause I've still got hakuna matata."

"Will the two of you be quiet?" Jude growled.

"No. You shut up. Cause, uh, I am awesome. Like a paranoid Reptar. Mixed with Godzilla with a mail truck. And your mom. In bed. With a hooker. Baby. Pineapple. Hobo. Person. Thing," Dia and Ericka said in unison.

What?" Jude asked cocking an eyebrow.

"That's funny," Evna giggled smiling at them.

Roger cleared his throat. "Miss. Finch, Miss. Lilith, Jude? I'm curious....what are you three planning to do with college, careers, so on so forth?"

"Umm.....Miss. Finch is my momma," Ericka said making a weird face, "But for college I'm planning to go to University of California. So is Dia, and Miss. Lilith is her crack-head gangster mom. And for a career.....I want to be a singer."

"I want to be a poet. I can't do any other type of art."

Jude shrugged. "I'm planning on Harvard. Yale. Dartmouth. Some college of that level."

"Ah, Ivy League, huh? I hope you get there. You must be very intelligent to want to go there."

"I am, sir. I plan on becoming a doctor like Professor Ryan."

"Oooh," Evna giggled. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but if the doctor's cute, screw the fruit. Huh, Tylor?"

"Shut up, Evna," I squeaked.

"Tylor."

"No, shut up."

Jude chuckled. "What if the cute doctor's going to give you a shot?"

"The cuteness with drive away the fear of the shot. Right, Tylor?" Evna inquired.

"Shut UP Evna," I squeaked again.

Jude laughed at my squeaking.

".....I can see what's happening," Ericka said smiling slightly at us.

"What?" Dia asked.

"And they don't have a clue."

"Who?"

"They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line, our trio's down to two."

"Oh."

"Ze sweet caress of twilight. There's magic everywhere...and with all this romantic atmosphere, disaster's in the air. And if she falls in love tonight, it can be assumed..."

"Her carefree days with us are history."

The two then sang together, "In short, our pal is doomed."

"Will you two shut up?" Jude growled again.

"No," Ericka said.

"Maybe," Dia said.

"Most likely not."

"Yep."

"Cause, uh, your mom."

"Is dead."

".....your dad?"

"Dead."

I looked at him solemnly. His parents are dead? "Damn. Your FACE! If your face is dead, I'm scared."

"Cut it out, Ericka," I snapped.

She instantly stopped and looked at me attentively. She nodded slowly and stayed silent. "What did you do, Tylor?" Super-Dork asked glaring at me.

"What do you mean, what did I do? I didn't do a thing." The waitress came up then.

"Are you all ready to order?" I barely realized that it was my ex-best friend, Stephenie Wellington. I looked up. Her pretty much perfect face with her beautiful blue eyes in the shade of her perfect blonde hair looked at me. "Oh, hey, Tylor," she said in a preppy tone. "You want your overloaded pancakes?"

"They're not overloaded. Their just right. And yes please."

"With a coke. Of course. And you, sir?" she asked her tone going somewhat flirtatious when she looked at Jude.

"Uh.....the rise and shine, I guess....a coke, please," he said not really paying attention.

I glared at the back of her head. She was too good looking. I mean, Beverly Hills is on the OTHER side of California. Stephenie had perfect hips and perfect sized breasts. Big enough that every girl was jealous, every guy drooled over her, but not big enough that they were sickening and unattractive. No homo. "Alright..." She went to everyone and got their orders, while I glared at her silently.

Jude asked me in a whisper once Stephenie left, "Why were you thinking such gruesome thoughts, Tylor?"

I whispered back in a voice harsher than I wanted, "She used to be my best friend, until she became a whore. A freaking whore."

"....what? Whore? What?" Ericka whispered.

"She stole everyone's boyfriend, and then when someone stole her boyfriend, she got pissed at them. Oh, but she can steal theirs. And then she would spread lies about people all the freaking time. I hate her. She spread a lie that I was doing drugs, I was going to drop out of school, I was taking this, I was screwing that. All sorts of stuff."

Ericka glared at where Stephenie went off to and growled. "That whore."

"I hate her so much," I growled. Jude put his hand on mine.

"Calm down. Don't get so angry, or you'll accidentally release your power....it'll be uncontrollable at the stage your in right now." I blushed slightly and felt all my anger disappear.

"Ok." I smiled at him. Stephenie came back with our drinks and set my coke down first. She moved to Jude and slowly set his drink down, winking at him when she stood up straight. I growled under my breath. I watched her as she sat every body's drinks down. She went back into the kitchen to check on our food. I glared at the door. I thoughtof a million ways she could die. I thought of her being stabbed by a knife.

Just then there was a scream from the kitchen. Everyone in the restaurant looked up. A waitress with short, black hair came rushing out of the kitchen. She ran to the phone and quickly dialed 911. I listened carefully. "Oh.....please, please, please.....there was a freak accident, one of our cooks...he was cutting some meat, and the knife slipped out of his hand somehow...and....and...it stabbed one of our waitresses right in the heart. Yes. Its the Denny's by the beach. Thank you." She hung up the phone and rushed out. The restaurant burst into whispers.

"Did you hear that?" Ericka whispered to Dia.

"Yeah.....oh, I hope the waitress is ok," Dia whispered.

I looked at Jude. His eyes were shut. "Its our waitress," he said opening his eyes.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on his thoughts. I saw Stephenie lying on the ground, a fresh pool of blood slowly dying her beautiful blond hair crimson. A knife, cutting into her breast pocket. Her blue eyes wide with shock. I gasped and covered my mouth. Jude looked at me and put his hand on my back. "You ok, Tylor?" he asked.

"I-I...can just smell her blood.....blood makes me nauseous," I said quickly turning away from him. Patrick looked at me worried threw the gleam of his glasses. I looked at him for a second then shut my eyes quickly. I got up and ran to the bathroom. "I'll be right back." I slammed the door open and ran to the counter. I did it again. I wanted her to be stabbed. I wanted to see her dead. But not like this.

I heard the bathroom door open again and Ericka stood there at the door. Her eyes seemed more red than usual. "I can stand the smell of freshly spilled blood without going insane." She walked over to me and looked in the mirror. "This is the only thing I hate about having hybrid vampire in me....I can't be near humans a lot, and a bunch of my friends are humans.....that cut themselves a lot. So....yeah." She smiled an awkward smile at me. She slung her purse off of her shoulder and took out her make-up bag. She looked in the mirror. "In the meantime, I guess I could do my make up cause I didn't get a chance to." She took out eyeliner and started to apply it to her eyelid. She then started to draw a shape on her cheek.

I watched her, trying to hold back my guilt. She looked at me. "I heard your thoughts before I came in....you really didn't do it single handedly. I helped. I mean, seriously, if someone stole my boyfriend, and the second I took him back, she got all pissy about it and told everyone at school I was a whore that did every freaking drug there is and have been with every single straight guy and girl, I'd hate her guts too. Seriously. I knew a girl like that before....you don't want me to tell you what I did to her."

I turned on one of the sinks and made a little bowl with my hands. I splashed my face with water. Ericka watched me while still doing her make-up. "Its hard when its your friend.....a lot of awakening ancients know that all too well." I stayed silent. "Dia killed her father. I killed our mail person. Ain't no rain, snow, sleet, or hail will stop it, but a pissed off 15 year old will." She looked up slightly as she applied her lipstick. I heard the door open and Evna came in.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked.

"A video game," Ericka said quickly. "You get to make a family and you can kill people."

"Oh...Ty-Ty? They cleaned up the blood."

"Alright, Evna. Please go," I said, my voice cracking a bit.

".....alright...." I felt pain go threw my heart as I saw her pained face. _Ty-Ty looks like she's in so much pain. I wonder what's wrong,_ I heard her think as she walked out. I bit my lip.

"....you alright?" Ericka asked. "I heard the jerky-brain think you'd never been nauseated by blood before."

"I'm fine," I said quickly. I stared at the sink. The thought that flooded my head I couldn't believe. It can't be believable. But Its true.

I killed my first best friend.

End of Chapter


	6. Chapter 6

**Flight**

Chapter 6: Class

--◦~ ~◦--

"I'm sorry for what happened back there, Tylor," Patrick said when we walked out of Denny's. He had been saying 'sorry' ever since I came out of the bathroom. Ericka glared at him. Her hatred for him was as clear as every girl that laid her eyes on Jude.

"Patrick. Its fine. Its not your fault," I said quickly. "Just...dont' talk about it."

"....hey, do you want to go to the beach? You know...to relax?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

"Do you two mind if we come, or is it a date?" Dia asked nudging us. I noticed Jude's face hardened when she said 'a date'.

"Nah, its ok," Patrick said smiling at her. "Do you guys have bathing suits? I have my sister's car, so you can barrow her bathing suit. She always has it in there."

"Alright..." I looked and found Carrie's, Patrick's sister, jeep. It was a rugged 70's van, very poorly taken care of. It was parked next to Ryan's Charger. They seemed so different next to eachother. One being covered with mud and looked so damaged, the other shining like a new car.

"So, you wanna ride with me?" Patrick backed up to the van and patted the front. "She's still got that ol' kick in her." When he hit it the third time, the bumper came off. He looked at it then looked up at me nervously. "That was supposed to happen." He crouched down and tried to fix it.

"Here," Jude said walking over to him. He crouched down and put the bumper on easily.

"Thanks.....that was still supposed to happen."

"Sure it was." Jude walked over to the Charger.

"Uh...thanks, Patrick, but....I'm not up for orange carpet, CD's eating my feet, and a dancing hula girl at the moment," I said walking over to the Charger and slipping in the back seat. Dia and Ericka got in. Dia sat next to me in the back seat.

"Alright, alright....Hey, Jude, wanna race to the beach?" Patrick asked looking at Jude.

"Sure...sounds fun," Jude answered as he slowly smirked. "See you there." He slipped in the front seat and Patrick slipped into the van.

The two cars roared to life, and Jude raced out of the parking lot before Patrick. "He shouldn't have challenged Jude to a race," Dia laughed. "Tylor, your friend is stupid."

"Yeah, I know," I muttered. Jude speed down the street. I looked up and noticed he just went threw a red light. "Uh....Jude? You know you just went threw a red light?"

"And?" he said looking at me. The car didn't slow down. "Don't worry. I'm a safe driver. Professor Ryan does this all the time."

"ALL the time?"

"Yeah....don't worry. You will be able to drive like this when you're as awakened as me."

I gulped and then felt the car stop. I looked out the window. We were already at the beach. I stepped out of the car and looked at the crowded beach. Patrick's van came roaring up and parked next to the Charger. He hopped out and came over to me with his sister's bathing suit. It was a bikini. A yellow bikini. I never wore a bikini before.

"Here you go," he said smiling. I grabbed the top part and went to one of the changing booths. Ericka and Dia fallowed. Ericka tossed me some cargo shorts from her purse and tossed Dia a tan-kini. She took out a silver one piece for herself.

"How'd you....?" I began to ask.

"I get premonitions. I saw us at the beach. So, I thought, 'Hey, I should take some swim gear stuff'. So, yeah," she said smiling. She slipped into one of the stalls and started to change. I stepped into the one next to hers. I quickly changed into the bikini top and the shorts. I stepped out and Ericka did, too, and so did Dia. Ericka draped her arms over both of Dia and my shoulders. We walked out proudly. Ericka removed her arm from Dia's neck and reached into her bag and pulled out ripped shorts. She tossed them to Jude. "Here you go, pretty boy. Go premonitions." Ericka did a little dance then put her arms back on our shoulders. She started to walk weirdly towards the ocean.

"Oh! No! Not ocean!" Dia said trying to back away.

"Come on, Hop-a-long. The ocean won't kill you."

"No! Think about it, Ericka!"

"..........................................................oh shizzle my fuzzin' nizzle. I get it. Go tan you're booty then!"

Dia smiled and skipped over to a spot and lied down. Patrick came to the side of me that Ericka wasn't on and put his arm around me. "How you've been?" he asked.

I fought coughing when the smell of tobacco and alcohol reached my nose. I smiled and said, "Alright..." Patrick then noticed my arm.

"What happened to your arm?" He ran his fingers along my arm. I winced when he went over the scars.

"Uh.....I fell," I said quickly. "Don't worry."

"It doesn't seem like something for when you--"

"I fell!" I said louder than I meant for it to be, "I don't want to talk about it."

"She cut herself really badly," Ericka said solemnly. She made it seem like we were in a play, and she was the Heath Ledger of the performance, being the perfect actor. "Probably shouldn't talk about it....it was pretty bad. All the blood and stuff." She shuttered. "Horrible. Janitors were like 'oh my lord!', Professor Ryan was all like 'Oh my lordy Lu who', Dia was all like FAINT, I was all like STARE, and Jude was all like 'oh, shizzle, no', but with a worse word than shizzle. I don't like to say that word. My momma told me not to say that word."

".....how'd she fall?"

"Tripped. Flight Academy has a lot of pointy decorations, she fell on the stairs and her arm got torn up from one..."

"Oh....I'm sorry."

I looked at her confused. How could she make that up right on the spot?

_Ancients rule,_ I heard her think, _Remember, if you have a question, we can talk like this. I made that up on the spot cause I'm an ancient. Ancients have vast minds and thought paths. That's why more times than not, ancients are accepted to Ivy League colleges._

_Oh,_ I thought back. _Cool....I guess..._

Ericka smiled then let me go and she ran into the ocean, diving into the water when she was a good ways out. Patrick pulled me closer to him. "You ok now?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Maybe you shouldn't get into the water....you know, sharks being attracted by blood and stuff?" he said shrugging slightly. I shrugged.

"I'll be fine. My arm's not bleeding anymore, besides, don't they have a net keeping the sharks out?"

"A net won't KEEP them out if they're determined."

I shrugged. "Ah well. I'll be fine....I'll stay in the waist-deep area then. Don't worry about me." I detached myself from him and walked into the water. Ericka swam up to me and jumped up out of the water.

"If only we could get Dia into the water....you'd see how cool she really is," she whispered to me.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember? Dia's a mermaid-ancient. So, second she touches water....she grows a tail. And fins and all that mermaid crap. Its awesome. I sorta turn into a shark-like thing....but I can control it. She can't. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Professor Annie is teaching her how to control it. Its apparently very hard for her. But since mermaid's not my main creature, I learned faster than her. Also, she's sorta slow."

"Oh." I looked to the shore where Dia was and got distracted when Jude walked out of the changing booth. He was so sexy. His chest was perfect. Strong looking, but not too, freakishly strong looking. His arms were long, but not too long. Everything about him seemed perfect. Like he was a god or something. Ericka giggled. "What?" I gasped. Oh, snap, she was reading my thoughts. I just know it.

"To humans, ancients are gods. Like that Jesus guy everyone's all like OH MY LORD, HE'S THE SAVIOR! Yeah, him? He was an ancient. Any one of our kind could've pulled that off. Like, Professor Ryan for instants. He could make a female human pregnant, be like, this will save your people, then when the kids born and he starts preaching all that stuff, that's from other's minds. And then with the healing the sick, anyone of us can do that. Its easy. Bringing the dead back to life. Well, very few can do that, but there are some. Very few though. But still. Its not that big of a deal, he just showed off more."

"Interesting....so we're not supposed to show off?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Well....we're not _supposed_ to. But we can. If we feel like it or we just want to freak people out." She smiled evilly then looked to shore. There was a beautiful woman basking in the sun. She seemed like a slutty type—oh, wait. Yes. Yes she was. She was Misti Davis. I went to school with her at Fountain Valley. Her already tan skin shown brightly in the Californian sun. I glared at her.

"What are you going to do?" I asked her trying to keep my voice even.

"I'm not going to do anything, _you_ are."

I looked at her like she told me she was thinking of getting a sex change just so she could have gay sex with men. "Say what?"

"Concentrate. Think of something you want to do to her. Not kill her, just....make her embarrassed or something. You know, have her top come off, have her slip or something, have a fat guy sit on her.....you know. Something."

"Alright, alright." I shut my eyes and concentrated. I pictured her having a jelly fish on her face.

"Oh my lord," I heard Ericka say. I opened my eyes when I heard Misti scream. A small jelly fish landed on her chest, instead of her face.

"I missed."

"But that was awesome. A bit _too _showy, but awesome. You should've seen it. The jelly fish actually rose up from the water."

"Cool." I heard a splash right next to us then I was showered with water. I looked over to where the splash came from, and then I screamed. Someone was pushing me up out of the water while I sat on their shoulders. My arms wrapped around their head. I looked down and Jude was smiling up at him with the hugest grin on his face. It was like a dog's smile.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" he chuckled grabbing my legs.

"Y-yes!" I almost screamed. Ericka giggled than made a heart with her hands and put it in the air so Jude and I were right in the center.

"Aw! Look at the cute little couple!" she giggled. Patrick came wading up to us.

"Haha, very funny, Ericka," Jude said sarcasticly. He then smirked evilly. "How do you think we should punish her for such a teasing comment, Tylor?"

"I don't know," I said.

"You're the princess here, I'll be your knight. What do you want me to do to the dragon?"

Ericka's eyes widened then she glared at him. "Dragon? Dragon?! Did you just call me a dragon?! Oh, no you did not call me a dragon, dog!"

"Oh yes I did, leach!"

"Pup!"

"Bloodsucker!"

"Flea bag!"

"Stop it!" Dia shouted from shore.

"Short-stop," Jude hissed under his breath. Ericka glared at him. She quickly kicked the back of Jude's knees.

"Timber!" she shouted. I forgot how to breath as Jude and I fell into the ocean. Jude quickly stood back up.

"That's not funny, Ericka," he said growling, "Tylor could've gotten hurt."

"Aw, that's sweet, you don't care that you could've gotten hurt, just if Tylor got hurt!" Ericka giggled. Jude reached into the water and grabbed my arm. He tried to pull me up. Once my my collar bone—scratch that, my bare collar bone reached the air, I pulled myself back into the water. "Tylor, c'mon, get up."

"N-no," I stuttered, pulling my arm out of his grasp. I covered myself with my arms. My head was above the water and that was all that mattered. I looked around for a floating yellow bra-looking thing bitting my lip. I knew my face must be bright red.

"What's wrong?" Jude asked croutching down to my level.

"N-nothing. Just enjoy being right here." I smiled a fake smile.

"You lost your top didn't you?" Ericka asked. She looked around and then gasped. She jumped over me and splashed into the water next to me and swam away. I lowered myself more into the water, blushing more. Jude stood up and looked at Patrick for a second.

"Did you, Ty?" Patrick asked walking over to me. Patrick seemed so nerdy next to Jude. Especially with both of them shirtless. Patrick was so scrawny, and Jude was so perfect. Ericka jumped back up with my top.

"Did someone order a yellow top?" she asked handing me the top. I grabbed it quickly and turned away from the boys to put it back on. I stood up and covered my arms, sorta making sure the top didn't come off again. Ericka's eyes started to turn red again. She backed away from me and covered her mouth and nose and ran back to shore and tackled Dia.

"Ow!" Dia yowled, "That is my SHOULDER! I use that!" Ericka whispered something into her ear. Dia looked at me and gasped. "Don't worry, Tylor! Dia is on her way!" Dia stood up and ran towards the water. She jumped into the ocean and swam swiftly to us. I watched her curiously.

"Dia, go watch for sharks, just in case any blood gets into the water," Jude said picking me up bridal style. My head was next to his perfect chest. I could hear his perfect heart beat. I wanted to shut my eyes and just sleep there next to his heart. I fought that urge and looked up at him.

"Right!" I heard Dia say from under the water.

"What?" I asked sorta dazed. Damn, his scent is already making me drunk. His beautiful green eyes looked down at me.

"You're arm, Tylor." I looked down at the arm that lied on my belly. The one that the Raven Mocker attacked. The bandages were hanging loosely around it, some torn. Blood was spilling out in steady crimson, streams.

"Oh," I said in a drunk-sounding voice.

Patrick leaned over me. "You ok, Tylor?"

I looked up at him. "What do you mean?" I asked smiling slowly. "I'm fine. A little blood loss didn't hurt anyone." Jude waded quickly back to shore.

"Patrick, do you know the way to Flight Academy?" Jude asked in a serious voice.

"Yeah, I walk by it every day on my way to work. Why?" Patrick asked trying to keep up with my super-human man—I mean, Jude.

"Take Tylor back to Flight Academy.....I'll call Professor Ryan so he can meet you at the front entrance. Be careful driving, but drive fast." When the two made it back to shore, Jude handed me over to Patrick. The scrawny boy almost dropped me.

"I can walk, Jude," I said.

He smiled at me. "Professor Ryan would kill me if I allowed you to walk under these circumstances." He then walked over to Ericka and started to whisper into her ear. Patrick carried me to his sister's van and put me into the front seat. And, like always, CD's gobbled up my feet. He hopped in the front seat.

"We'll be at Flight in no time, Ty," he said throwing the car in drive and driving as fast as he could with out breaking the law out of the parking lot and down the road. I nodded still a bit intoxicated by Jude's lingering smell on my shoulder. When I finally snapped back to reality, I looked back. I could only see tall buildings. No beach. No Ericka. No Dia. No sexy man—I mean, Jude.

Patrick parked the van. I looked and saw that we were already at Flight. Professor Ryan came out of the front gates and walked over to my side of the vehicle. He opened the door before Patrick got there and helped me out. He chuckled when he saw my arm. "You're a magnet for injuries, huh, Miss. Trafford?" he asked me still laughing.

"Its not my fault," I mumbled. Patrick looked at me worried.

"Will she be alright, Dr. Porter?" he asked quickly.

"She'll be right as rain in no time at all," Ryan said smiling at Patrick. "No worries, my boy." He shut the van's door with his foot then started to walk back to the school. "You may come along if you wish." Patrick fallowed him.

I barely payed attention to anything. I found it hard to focus. All I thought was that I hate Raven Mockers and ravens and, at the moment, I will murder Ericka. For having me go away from Jude. Patrick hovered around the room, looking at all of Ryan's marvelous things. He stopped at one thing. He picked it up. It looked like a utensil used back in the 1800's. It still shown brightly. I couldn't tell what it was, though. I never was good with figuring out the different tools. Especially doctor's tools. "What's this, sir?" Patrick asked.

"That's my great great great great great great great great grandfather's. I'm not quiet sure what it is, since I've never been too good with history, but I believe its something like today's shots," Ryan answered not looking up from my arm. I watched Patrick move about then I heard the sound of a Charger engine pulling into Flight's front driveway. I forgot how to breath. After a few minutes, Dia and Jude came threw the doors. Jude was wearing his shirt again, but didn't change out of the shorts.

"Professor Ryan, I'm very sorry for letting this happen," he said.

"Its all Ericka's fault, don't blame yourself," I blurted. I bit my lip when I realized what I said.

Jude looked at me and smiled softly. "If I didn't have you up on my shoulders, this wouldn't have happened."

Patrick looked at him. "You ok, man?" he asked.

"Yeah. I got tough skin. Its hard for me to get hurt."

"Where is Ericka, Jude?" Ryan asked still not looking up from his look. Jude pointed to the door.

"She's in her dorm. You know how bad her tolerance for blood still is."

"Right. That's natural for people like her, you know that. Even my good friend, Laurence, still isn't good with blood and he's just a year and a month shy of my age."

"Laurence...?" I asked, sort of asking myself, "Ericka's dad?"

"Yep. He and I are good friends. He's my cousin, really." I nodded taking that in. So, if my dream really was telling me that Ryan was really my dad, Ericka and I are related. I noticed he bit his lip when I though 'really my dad'. "Done," he said quickly. "But Ericka more than likely can't come in to see you still."

"Smell of blood's still too great," Jude said covering his mouth and nose.

"Oh, poor doggy, does the smell of blood hurt your nose?" Dia giggled.

"Shut up, fish," Jude growled.

"Ok. Yeah, only Ericka can annoy you like that. And Marvin. And Laurence, if he wants to. And your brother. And Yuki, though he really doesn't do that. Not that much."

"Dia," I said.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Ok."

"Just a minor injury," Ryan said quickly. "But the fact that you cut yourself on an already injures area made it far worse. I decided to stitch it up for you, alright? So be careful when using your arm, Tylor."

"Thank you." I hopped down from the medical bench I was sitting on. I wobbled when I landed. Ryan put his arm near me, just in case I fell. "I'm ok." I stood up straight and tried to walk and I tripped. Ryan caught me quickly.

"Maybe you should have Dia or Jude or your friend help you get back to your dorm."

"I'll be fine."

Ryan nodded. I started to walk out of the room. "Jude, Dia, watch after her," I heard him say after I left. Jude came to my side. Dia walked behind me.

"What you do, Jude?" a familiar voice asked. I looked and saw that Jayn girl looking at us. Well, more at me. Well, more at my arm. Her eyes were somewhat red, too, like Ericka's.

"Nothing, Jayn," Jude growled. He put his arm around me protectively. He looked at Patrick, who I guess was behind us, too. "Dia, get in between Patrick and Jayn."

"Right," Dia said quickly. I looked back at her. She moved swiftly to the side Jayn was on.

"I'm not thirsty, I already went hunting this morning, Jude," Jayn said looking at him boredly. "Just the smell of blood is turning me on." She walked over to him and pressed her body to him. "So do you, but that's cause you turn on everybody in the school." Jude put his arm up protectively to push Jayn off of him. "Do you know how much I want to feel you in my--"

"I don't want to know. Go away!" Jude said in a strange voice. It was so full of authority. He whispered, "And remember, there's a human close by." His eyes shot very quickly to Patrick. Jayn looked at Patrick.

"Oh, you're sexy too." She walked over to Patrick. Dia flinched away from her slightly, but kept a straight face. Jayn pushed pass Dia and got very close to Patrick. "You probably have a big--"

"Jayn!" Jude ordered again. I noticed a boy around Jude's age approaching. He had brown, messy hair and purple colored eyes. I bet he just had contacts in. When Jude's voice reached him, he seemed to become more alert.

"Something the matter, Jude?" he asked in a calm voice as he walked up.

"Michael!" Jayn said happily. "Its nice to see someone so sexy."

"Stay away from me," Michael ordered, "Is Jayn causing you problems, alpha-man?"

"I've got it Michael, thank you, though. Tell Reid that he'll have a lot of time to sleep tonight. There's nothing going on tonight. I have a feeling that tonight that the RM's won't try to come into the school."

"Why not?"

"Another student awakened fully. Their hell-demon came this morning. So those damned monsters will stay away."

"Oh, yeah. Xavier, right? One more wolf gone. Man. We'll need newbies again."

"Yes. We'll talk about it later."

"We'll need a new alpha soon, won't we, too?"

"Michael. Later."

"Yes sir."

"Take Jayn away. We wouldn't want her messing up anything."

"Aw, you sound like that's a BAD thing," Jayn giggled. "I wouldn't do any harm, Jude. I'm not THAT evil."

"Come on, Jayn. Let's see if Tony is free," Michael said in a calm, but you could tell that he was afraid of her. You could see it in his eyes.

"Tony?" she said smiling. She pretty much floated with Michael away.

"Who are they? What was that Michael kid talking about?" Patrick asked.

"A club we have here at the school. Its hard to get into," Jude answered quickly, starting to walk again. Patrick looked at him weirdly.

"'Wolf', 'alpha'?"

"Its only available at Flight Academy. People that haven't been in Flight before, threw lineage or other wise, wouldn't know."

"Awesome."

"Its down right awesome!" Dia said.

"Shut up, Dia," Jude said. He stopped. "You're room, Tylor?" He stepped aside as the door opened. I walked in and noticed Ericka lying on the couch. She was listening to her Ipod and singing along to a song. It was so beautiful. Her voice was so nice to hear singing.

"_Kiss me_

_out of the bearded barley_

_Nightly_

_beside the green green grass_

_Swing swing_

_swing the spinning step_

_You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress_

_Oh, kiss me_

_beneath the milky twilight_

_Lead me_

_out on the moonlit floor_

_Lift your open hand_

_Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance_

_Silver moon sparkling_

_So kiss me_

_Kiss me_

_down by the broken tree house_

_Swing me_

_upon its hanging tire_

_Bring bring_

_bring your flowered hat_

_We'll take the trail marked on your father's map--_"

"Oh my god, that's her singing?" Patrick asked as he stared wide eyed at Ericka. She shot up and stared at us.

"What are YOU doing here?" she growled at Patrick.

"He wanted to make sure Tylor was safe," Jude said in flat tone. "Don't be mean to him, Ryan said for him to stay here since he's so persistent of becoming closer to Tylor. Make sure nothing bad happens, I have to talk to Ryan about something." Jude left quickly. Patrick sat down in one of the chairs near the couch. He issued me to sit next to him.

"So, what are you doing later, Ty?" he asked ignoring Ericka's growls.

"I'm going to be hanging out with Jude later. That's all I have planned."

"We're going to go on a shopping spree at Hot Topic," Ericka said abruptly. I looked at her. _We'll get some money from Professor Ry. Since you're his daughter, we'll get more than usual. And since we're going to the big HT, he'll give even more_, she thought.

"Oh," Patrick said. "You guys got money for that?"

"Yeah, we got money," Dia said. Patrick set down his man-purse (its a messenger bag, but its so small it looks like a purse so I call it his man-purse) and pulled something out.

"I've brought you something Ty," he said smiling at me. I looked at him curiously. He showed me a box of See's Candy. My eyes widened and my mouth twirled into a big grin. I attacked him with a hug.

"CANDY!" I shouted and snatched the box from him and opened it.

"I thought you'd like some chocolate. I mean, switching school's a big stress. They're white chocolate toffee."

I stared at him wide eyed then back to the box. Every piece was white chocolate. I gasped and grabbed one and started to eat it. "Mmm......" Jude came back in then.

"Hi, Jude," Dia said. "We found something out about Tylor. Her favorite candy--"

"No, my favorite food," I said around the chocolate.

"Ok, her favorite chocolate is white chocolate toffee."

"....that's nice to know," he said boredly. He sat down in the other chair. I looked at him curiously then swallowed the joy in my mouth.

"What are you and I going to do later, Jude?" I asked licking my fingers.

"Hm? Oh...its a surprise."

"Oooooh."

"Tylor loves surprises," Patrick said flatly.

"Happy ones. Not one's like...you know." I shook my injured arm. Jude nodded as his eyes seem to looked pained.

"Sorry about that," he whispered.

"Ah, its no one's fault but mine. Same with their buddies." I wiggled my wrists.

"What about his big buddy?" Dia asked wiggling her eyebrows. I glared at her. She put her hands in the air like she was surrendering.

"Big buddy?" Jude and Patrick asked. The difference in their voices was so weird to hear together. They didn't match at all.

"Nothing," I said quickly taking out another piece of heaven from the box and plopping it into my mouth.

"She has an awesome wound on her side," Ericka said lifting her shirt up and pointing to where it is on me. "It looks like it hurt a lot."

"Was that the one that landed you in the hospital?" Patrick asked.

"No. Besides, its mostly healed by now. Don't worry about it," I said looking away from Patrick and Jude.

"Professor Ryan dressed it, didn't he?" Dia said.

"Yeah." Jude looked at Patrick. His green eyes seemed all too weird. Patrick suddenly got up.

He said quickly, "I'm sorry, I've got to go. My mom wants me home at 2. I don't know why, but you know my mom." He shrugged and then left quickly.

"Man I'm glad you can control humans like that, Jude, he was making me sick. His clothes reek of drugs and alcohol," Ericka hissed as she lied back down on the couch.

"I know, makes my nose burn," Dia whined covering her nose.

"I know. That's why I did it," Jude said shaking some of his bangs out of his face. "Tylor, no offense, but your friend stinks."

"I know. But he's the only friend I have that's still alive from my old school," I mumbled. "Well, close enough to alive."

"Still stinks. But anyway, I had to get him to leave, since Professor Ryan wanted to speak to you about something that would have a more than likely bad consequence if the human heard." Professor Ryan stepped into the room from the dorm door.

"Tylor, I'm sorry to eavesdrop, but last night I over heard you and your two roommates discussing about how full-blood ancients can reproduce. I wanted to make something clear about how you were created and wither Travis Trafford is your father, or if I'm really your father. It is possible that full-blood ancients can reproduce with a human without any actual contact from the ancient, and its a very rare way of reproducing now. It hasn't been used for centuries. But....16 years ago, one ancient did use it. They did reproduce an offspring with a human female. A human female that was married to another human, a male human, though. That woman is Abagael Panni now, but 16 years ago she was called Abagael Trafford. She had a daughter before the offspring with the ancient. That daughter's name is Eileen Alexia Panni, better known as Alexia than Eileen. The ancient's offspring was you. And the amcient that did that was none other than me."

I stared at him wide eyed. "So that's why everyone in my family seemed so different than me," I whispered.

"Yep. If I didn't help create you, you'd be just another human. A blonde human. Like your other siblings."

_And I wouldn't know the sexiest guy on the planet,_ I thought. "This is.....awesome. But...why'd you try to create a child with a human? Don't you have a wife?"

"Had one. She...died. Many centuries back. Apparently the plague can kill ancients, too. I wanted to create you to make sure that there was another full-blood ancient in the world. Our numbers are decreasing rapidly, Tylor. With the increase of mixed-ancients, the numbers of full-blood ancients decrease. And I chose your mother because she seemed like a strong woman that would produce a beautiful child without the help of an ancient. And she has proven that she is." He smiled slightly.

"So...I help with the numbers of full-blood ancients?"

"Yes. As you can see even at our school, there's only three full-bloods here. You, Professor Leyton, and myself." I stared at the floor. I heard Jude moved and I fought the urge to look at him.

"So that explains that dream I had. But, wait. Shouldn't my name be Tylor _Porter_ instead of Tylor _Trafford_?"

"Travis took you in as an adoptive father, so you got his last name." Ryan shrugged still smiling. "You're names your name. Abby gave you your name, right?"

"Yeah. It was my great, great, great granddad's name. She thought she was going to have a boy, since I seemed to act like a boy a lot in the womb, and she couldn't think of anything else when I was born. But....have you always known you were my dad?"

"Yes. The reason I had your mother take care of you is that I can't stand watching a mother cry. Lying to her by telling her that her daughter was dead would've been heartbreaking for everyone. Also, I have an extreme fear of things that crawl and drool." I stared at him. "Its true."

"That's weird."

"He almost had a heart attack from a little baby in the park," Jude muttered. Ericka almost burst into laughter and Dia giggled. Ryan glared at Jude.

"You shut up," he hissed. Jude stuck his tongue out like a playful puppy. Ryan looked back to me and smiled again. "If you'd like, I could treat you like a father should treat his daughter."

"I'd feel weird then. I don't know how a father's supposed to treat a daughter. My girl friends know somewhat, but they know about divorced dads, single dads, and everything but regular dads."

".....I think I can function accordingly."

"Nope," Jude muttered under his breath.

"Jude, be quiet. You know what, what are you doing in a girl's dorm?"

"The girls that occupy the dorm are my friends." I smiled mentally. Jude thinks of me as a friend!

"Well...its weird. For a boy your age to be in a girls' dorm."

"And this is coming from a _man _over 2,000 years old that looks 25?"

"....you suck."

"Um...what do dad's do with daughters?" I asked interrupting Jude and Ryan's argument.

"Huh?" Ryan said in a very unprofessional way. "Oh...uh....scare the boys that they seem to like...somewhat spoil the daughter...embarrass them."

"Ryan, you embarrass EVERYONE here when you just see a piece of candy on the ground," Ericka giggled.

"Shut up."

"Its true," Dia said.

"Shut up."

"100%," Jude added.

"Shut up, I said."

"Really?" I asked.

"No."

"Yes," Jude, Dia, and Ericka answered at the same time. "He's mad about sugar."

"Shut up." I giggled. "Oh, the thing about scaring boys.....um.....I'm going to be scaring that Patrick kid a lot, alright?"

"I don't care. He's less of a friend day by day," I said shrugging. "The only reason we're friends still is because he stood up for me in the 7th grade when a bunch of the preppy kids were teasing me about being Wiccan and looking like a hobo more times than not and being the only kid not to have a bikini and being in marching and about still carrying around a teddy bear named Frank Quannounski and having an extreme crush on this kid named Oliver Goldstein and about the fact that I had a bunch of slits on my wrists cause that's when I started to get depressed and would space out and almost kill myself and so on and so forth and why I have to go to a therapist now. I was a troubled child."

"That sounds cool!" Ericka yelled. "I want a teddy bear named Frank Quannounski! I'm going to name my first son Frank Quannounski now cause it sounds like such a cool name. And if my husband's all like 'Who the hell has the last name Quannounski?', I could be all like 'FRANK! Cause Frank Quannounski sounds AWESOME! Yo!' And then go gangster on him while holding little Frank Quannounski and be like 'Yo-yo-yo, I can't keep my pants up! Yo!'. Yeah."

"And dressing like a hobo's fun!" Dia said. "I do it a lot! And when I was younger, sometimes it wasn't just dress-up. My mom got kicked out of a lot of places and lost a lot of jobs."

"Her mom was a drunkard gangster person."

"She shot me once. And that's when Professor Ryan found me. Everyone here either has had something medical happen, and then they meet Professor Ryan, or they somehow knew him."

"For me, I'm a skater. And I mean, extreme skater. Like, I'll get onto the top of buildings and try not to land on the ground extreme. And I had an extremely clumsy day, and I was retarded, and tried to grind along a wire. I found out that day that cement's very hard and hurts a lot when you fall from a wire 60 feet above the ground. Professor R found me on some sidewalk bleeding to death. Jude was found mangled from a football game."

I swore I almost saw how it was for all of them. Like I was there. It was weird.

End of Chapter


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